Ship of Theseus
by Skylark Starflower
Summary: Sometimes, something needs to break before it can be fixed.
1. Prologue

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Man, if only I owned Ninjago . . .

So . . . here's a thing. Set after season five, but before season six. The dream is based on one I had a while ago, though I did change a few of the details to fit the story a bit better. Also, yes, I am making fun of Final Fantasy. Nya's feelings are basically my own. Whoops. :)

EDIT: Also, a big thanks to Order of the Aether, for helping me edit this story so it could be the best it can be. :D

" **Ship of Theseus"  
By Skylark Starflower  
Started March 17, 2016**

Prologue

Cole groaned and squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden light from the open door. The door closed and he opened them once more to find Zane standing there, a tray in his hands. He could see that the tray contained a bowl of what he assumed to be soup, a plate of saltine crackers and a glass of ginger ale.

Zane was wearing his old, pink apron again, Cole noted with amusement, even as his stomach lurched at the thought of eating anything. You could be certain Cole was sick when the idea of food turned his stomach.

"How are you feeling, Cole?" Zane asked as he walked over to the side of the bed. He set the tray down on the bedside table.

"Ask me that again, Pinkie, and I'll make sure you find out first hand," Cole replied in good humour, though his exasperation was clear.

"Sorry," Zane replied sheepishly. "Anyway, I've brought you some dinner."

"Ugh, I don't know if I can eat that, Zane . . ."

"Well, at least try the crackers and ginger ale? They may help settle your stomach."

"Oh, all right. Hand them over."

Cole sat up in bed as Zane passed him the plate of crackers and cup of ginger ale. He began to nibble a cracker half-heartedly.

"I still don't understand how you're sick," said Zane after a moment of silence. "I would not have expected you to be able to become ill as a ghost."

"Yeah, well, we can't all be robots, can we?" Cole shot back. He didn't intend it as an insult, so he felt bad when Zane drew back in surprise and dropped his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Zane replied quietly. There was an awkward silence before he spoke again. "I'll leave the soup in case you change your mind about it. I'll check in on you later."

"Yeah, all right. Later, Zane."

As Zane turned to leave, he saw Cole set the food back down and lay down in his bed. He must have thought Zane wouldn't notice, so he pretended he hadn't, stepping out of the room before closing the door behind him.

Zane made his way slowly back to the kitchen, pulling off his apron as he entered the room. As he hung it up, he took stock of who else was there. Nya and Lloyd sat at the table, watching as Jay fiddled with a small device.

"It's never going to work, Jay," teased Nya.

"Yes, it will, just you wait," Jay replied, carefully attaching a tiny wire.

Zane turned a curious expression to Lloyd. "What is Jay making now?"

Lloyd smirked. "He says it's gonna keep mosquitoes away, but so far, all it does is catch fire."

"Oh, har, har," snapped Jay. "You'll all be thanking me when the little blood suckers won't come within five miles of us!" Something in his invention chose that moment to spark, sending up a plume of smoke. Jay coughed and swore mildly, waving the smoke away. Zane raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Lloyd snickered.

It was Nya who spoke next. "How's Cole doing?"

"He hasn't been sick in a while, but he's still refusing to eat," replied Zane.

"Does it really matter?" asked Lloyd. The others gave him a strange look. "What? He's a ghost, it's not like he can die, right?"

"Kid's got a point," Kai's voice came from the doorway. "Except for water, as far as we know, nothing can hurt him."

The fire ninja joined the group at the table, ruffling Lloyd's hair playfully. This elicited an annoyed, "hey!" from the green ninja. Then Kai placed a bag on the table.

"Enough about Cole, I'm sure he'll be fine in no time. Guess what I got?"

Lloyd's eyes went wide. "No way!"

"Yup," replied Kai with a smirk. "I got the last copy in the store. Who wants to play Last Legend 18?"

That got Jay's attention. The blue ninja perked up, abandoning his invention entirely. "How in Ninjago did you manage that? That game's been sold out everywhere the moment it was released!"

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"Ha, ha, very funny. Seriously, though?"

"Really, Jay, does it matter how I got it? The fact is I did. Do you want to play or not?"

"Of course I do! Let's go!"

Nya rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I don't see what it is everyone sees in that game. The last halfway decent game in that series was twelve."

"Are you for real?" Jay stared at her like a goat had grown out of her forehead. "It's just the most anticipated sequel to seven, where Cirrus Rivalry and the gang have to face the ghost of their greatest foe, now inhabiting his mighty odachi blade!"

"Sounds riveting. Have fun, boys." With that, Nya got up and left the room.

"Bah, her loss." Jay got up to follow Kai and Lloyd down the hall. He paused for a moment when he noticed Zane hadn't moved. "You coming, Zane?"

Zane blinked and looked up, startled. Jay figured he must have been talking to PIXAL. "Oh, I'm sorry. Um . . . sure, I suppose."

He stood and followed after the others. By the time he caught up with them, Kai and Lloyd already had the game set up and ready to go.

"Seems they stuck with the three person battle system, so I guess we'll have to take turns," Lloyd said as he passed the last controller to Jay. "Sorry, Zane. First come, first served."

Zane wasn't particularly bothered. "I am content to watch for now." He sat down, not really paying attention as the others argued over who got which character.

"I wish I could play," said PIXAL wistfully, drawing his attention inwards. "I've never played a video game before. I don't understand how you can just watch."

Zane shrugged, responding internally so only she could hear. "Honestly, I am more interested in the plot than the game play."

"I suppose that makes sense." PIXAL paused as a small alert popped up. "I should take care of this maintenance check. I will return to watch with you once it is complete."

"I will be sure to fill you in on any important plot points you may miss," he replied. She smiled before disappearing from his display. He turned his attention back to the screen in time for the opening movie to begin.

X X X

Something was wrong. The others continued to press on through the snow, but none of them seemed to notice as Zane fell behind. Something held him, some unseen force, and it would not let go. It made it difficult to move forward. The more he fought it, the stronger it became, pulling him backwards and away from his friends.

Zane reached out, yelling for help in a panicked voice, but no one seemed to hear him.

"Please," he heard himself say in a last, desperate whisper. "Help me."

One of his friends stopped, standing still for a moment before turning to face him. Jay had the falcon perched on his arm, the bird's metallic finish glinting in the sun. Jay's eyebrows knit in a mix of regret and sorrow as he stared at the ground.

"I don't know if we can."

Zane could no longer resist the force. He was snapped backwards through the snowy forest at great speed. Soon, he came to an ice-covered lake. His momentum slowed but didn't stop as he was drawn into an opening in a nearby cliff face. It led downwards, to a frozen, crystalline cavern. If he hadn't been terrified, Zane would have found it quite remarkable.

There was a chair, formed of ice and stalagmites, in the middle of the cavern. It was into this that the force finally deposited the frightened nindroid. Zane tried to stand, but he was held firm, though no restraints were visible.

A figure detached itself from a shadowy recess in the side of the wall, unfurling as it came to stand before him. Though Zane tried to study their features, he could never quite remember what they looked like, or even if this person was male or female. All he could be certain of was their expression. Right now, they seemed pleased to see him.

"Ah, Zane. We meet again," they said in a voice that was as androgynous as their features.

"Do I know you?"

They ignored the question, suddenly frowning. Reaching out a hand, they touched it to Zane's chest. His eyes went wide and he let out a gasp before screaming.

X X X

Zane started awake with a yelp, nearly kicking Kai in the head.

"Whoa, hey!" Kai exclaimed, dodging. He hit pause on the game as he, Jay and Lloyd turned to regard the nindroid. "What the heck, Zane?"

Zane blinked. He couldn't remember falling asleep, but he must have. There was no other explanation. "Sorry, Kai . . . When did I fall asleep?"

"Shortly after we fought the first sub boss," replied Lloyd. "You seemed so tired, we just left you. I mean, you've been spending so much time looking after Cole, I guess we figured you deserved a nap."

"But I . . ." Zane trailed off. Still unnerved by his dream, he didn't feel up to talking, even if only to explain that he didn't really need sleep, or at least not as much as his human friends. He certainly didn't feel up to telling them about the dream itself. "Never mind. I think I will go check on Cole one last time and then turn in for the night."

Lloyd frowned. He could tell something was bothering Zane, but he wasn't going to force the issue unless it became a problem. He turned to Kai and Jay, and the two shrugged in response. "Goodnight then, Zane," he said finally.

Zane gave a small nod and left the room, heading to sickbay. He waited for PIXAL to say something, perhaps scold him for brushing off his friends the way he had, but then he noticed she wasn't there. He hoped the maintenance check wasn't anything serious; she usually didn't take longer than an hour and a half to deal with them. Admittedly, she still had fifteen minutes before he would consider her late.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he reached sickbay. Opening the door, he peeked inside. Cole was lying on his side, asleep. Quietly, Zane entered and walked over. He was surprised to find that the dishes he'd brought in earlier were empty and neatly stacked on the bedside table. Cole had eaten his food, and there was no evidence that he'd been ill again. Zane smiled, hoping this meant the black ninja was finally starting to feel better.

Gathering up the dishes, he took them to the kitchen before heading to bed himself.


	2. Worst Date Ever

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Don't own Ninjago, blah, blah, blah.

I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter finished. Life was kicking my butt there for a while. With luck, the next chapters won't take nearly so long. Also, I made a small mistake in my last author's note. I said this story took place between seasons five and six. That's not quite true. It does take place after season five, but it pretty much totally ignores season six and goes off on its own tangent. You'll see what I mean when we get there. I seem to be starting a bit of a running continuity here, too, since I already have plans for the next story after this one. There will be foreshadowing for it, too. Whoops. Also, you may have noticed I changed the story summary. Now it's a little less misleading and more appropriate. Tee hee. And thanks to all my friends for all the help they gave me with this chapter. :)

Chapter One- Worst Date Ever

Cole was expecting to see Zane when he woke up the next morning, as had become the custom over the last few days. Instead, he found Lloyd sitting next to his bed. The green ninja was smiling, though something about it seemed a little off. Cole sat up, regarding him with a questioning look.

"Good morning," Cole said. "Where's Zane?"

"Morning," Lloyd replied. "We let Zane sleep in today."

"Sleep in? What are you talking about? Zane doesn't sleep in."

"Yeah, I know, but he seemed pretty tired last night. Have you been giving him a hard time?"

"Not intentionally," Cole replied with a grin. "Did you want me to start?"

"No." Lloyd laughed. "Are you sure you didn't say something that upset him yesterday? He seemed a little, I don't know, odd."

"Zane? Odd? You don't say. Seriously, though, I don't think so . . . Oh, no, wait. I did accidentally insult him."

Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

Cole frowned. "Hey, I apologized!"

"All right, I believe you. Calm down," Lloyd said, his trademark smirk back in place. "So, is there anything I can get you for breakfast?"

Cole paused for a moment to think about it. "Y'know, I have this sudden craving for pancakes. Big, fluffy ones, drowning in butter and syrup."

Lloyd shook his head, smiling. "You're obviously feeling better." He stood and walked to the door. "I'll see what I can do."

The green ninja left the room, nearly running into Kai as he passed in the hall. The red ninja seemed to be in a hurry for some reason. Lloyd had noticed him running back and forth since he'd gotten up.

"Oh, sorry, Lloyd," Kai said, stepping around him to hasten down the hall.

"What's the rush, Kai?" Lloyd called after him.

"Rush?" Kai paused for a moment. "No rush. What makes you think I'm in a rush?" With that, he disappeared around the corner. For the second time that morning, Lloyd raised and eyebrow. What was going on on this ship? Shaking his head, he wandered off towards the kitchen with the intention of making pancakes.

X X X

PIXAL was waiting for Zane when he awakened. She perked up when she noticed he had finally become responsive.

"Good morning!" she greeted him cheerfully.

"Good morning, PIXAL," he replied as he sat up. "I am sorry I did not wait up for you last night . . ."

She waved a hand dismissively. "It is all right. The maintenance check showed you were running a little low on energy, so it wasn't unexpected. Otherwise, everything is in order." She paused for a moment, opening a small window to examine some data. Then she dismissed it, fixing him with a smile. "According to the readouts, your energy levels are back to normal. You should be just fine."

"Thank you, PIXAL."

Zane was more than capable of checking his systems himself, but PIXAL liked to feel useful, and otherwise, she didn't have a lot to do. He really did need to work something out with Cyrus to get her a new body. It wasn't really fair to keep her limited like this. Besides, he had never truly intended to keep PIXAL in his head forever. He only ever meant it to be a stopgap to get her out of Chen's castle.

As he stood to get dressed, he noticed he was the only one in the bunk room. The angle of the light coming in through the window suggested it was late in the morning. He checked his internal clock. It read ten thirty a.m.

"PIXAL, why did no one wake me sooner?"

"Your low energy level made you seem tired, so they let you sleep in, believing it might help."

Zane couldn't help smiling. "I suppose there is some merit to that."

The two continued to discuss their plans for the day as he dressed and made his way to the kitchen. Given the time, he knew someone else must have checked in on Cole already.

Reaching the kitchen, he noticed the faint smell of burnt batter. A quick look around confirmed his suspicions. Someone must have tried to make pancakes and burned at least one of them.

Zane began poking around for something to eat as Lloyd returned, bearing the empty dishes he'd brought back from sickbay. When he spotted Zane, he waved and smiled.

"Cole says your pancakes are better," Lloyd told him, a hint of chagrin in his voice. He pointed to the fridge. "There's a couple extra left over if you want them anyway. I only burned them a little."

Zane didn't reply as he opened the fridge and removed the plate of pancakes. They were indeed burned somewhat around the edges, but that didn't bother Zane. He grabbed the syrup and went to sit at the table.

"If you'd like, I could give you some cooking lessons," he said as he set his plate down and started to add syrup to the still cold pancakes.

"Um . . . no thanks. Cole told me what happened when you tried to give him lessons . . ."

"Oh, yes. I still do not know how he managed to make a meatloaf explode."

Lloyd laughed and started cleaning up. Jay walked into the room at that moment.

"Gross! How can you do that, Zane?" Jay strode over to the table and plunked himself down across from the baffled nindroid.

"Do what?"

"Eat your pancakes cold! That's disgusting."

Zane shrugged. "It doesn't bother me."

"Ew, whatever." Jay pulled out his invention and began to fiddle with it as Zane quietly ate his breakfast. Zane couldn't help smiling as he noticed PIXAL rolling her eyes.

For several minutes, the only sounds came from clinking utensils, tools and Lloyd at the sink washing dishes. Wu walked in, stroking at his beard, an expression of mock surprise on his face.

"Who are you all, and what have you done with my students?" he asked, a hint of humour colouring his voice. He walked over to the counter to pour himself a cup of tea. Jay never even looked up, too engrossed in his invention to have noticed Wu's entrance.

"Good morning, sensei," said Zane.

"Good morning to you, Zane," replied Wu. "The others told me you were feeling run down. I trust you are better now?"

"Much, thank you."

"Good. Then perhaps you wouldn't mind helping to clean out storage? It's getting a little crowded in there, and we can't have the mess taking over the rest of the ship, now can we?"

"No, sensei. I will be glad to help." Zane turned to Lloyd. "Should I check in on Cole first?"

"Well, I was just in there not that long ago, and he seemed fine. Still, it probably wouldn't hurt," the green ninja replied.

"Oh, is he feeling better?" asked Wu. "If that is the case, perhaps he can help, as well." The sensei walked over to Jay and placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him. "You, too, Jay." Jay let out a grumble, but packed up his work as Wu continued. "Has anyone seen Kai?"

"I ran into him earlier, but I don't know where he is now," replied Lloyd.

"I shall send him along once I see him, then." With that, Wu took his tea and left the kitchen.

Zane, now done with his breakfast, proceeded to clean up after himself, assuring Jay and Lloyd that he would join them as soon as he was finished and had gathered Cole. It wasn't long before he was done, and soon he stood outside sickbay. He knocked and waited for Cole to call him in before entering.

"Hey, Zane!" Cole greeted him. He was sitting up in bed, reading a graphic novel Zane suspected Lloyd must have left with him.

"Hello, Cole," Zane replied with a smile. "Lloyd says you are feeling better now."

"I guess, but I think those pancakes may have made me sick again," Cole replied, grinning.

"You shouldn't be too hard on Lloyd, you know. He's trying his best."

"I know. I'm just kidding."

"Regardless, you seem to be feeling better. Sensei Wu has tasked us with cleaning out storage, if you are feeling up to it."

"Of course," said Cole, rolling his eyes, "as soon as I'm better, it's right back to work." He put down the comic and pulled himself out of bed. Still in his pyjamas, Cole followed Zane to the storage room. It seemed Wu had found Kai, because the fire ninja was already there along with Lloyd and Jay. The three had already begun to unpack several boxes, sorting the contents by what they would keep, donate or otherwise throw out. Zane and Cole joined them, and the five boys worked in silence for several minutes.

Some of the boxes had been in the Bounty's storage for quite some time, and had gathered a thick layer of dust. There were a few sneezes every now and then, but everyone seemed startled when Zane joined in.

"Hey, what gives?" asked Kai. "I thought you didn't do stuff like that."

"I don't think I have before," Zane admitted, "but I suppose I need to clear dust from my system just the same as a human."

"Makes sense to me," said Cole with a shrug.

"What's that you've got there, Lloyd?" Jay asked, changing the subject. The green ninja was leafing through what appeared to be a sketchbook. He didn't get a chance to reply as Cole, alerted by Jay's question, let out a squawk and snatched the book from Lloyd's hands. He snapped it shut and clutched it to his chest, frowning.

"Well, now I _really_ want to know what was in that thing!"

"You don't just go through someone's stuff like that without asking!" snapped Cole.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," replied Lloyd sheepishly. "You're so good! I didn't know you could draw like that!"

"Well . . . thanks, but still, ask first next time!"

"I haven't seen you draw anything since before the Great Devourer showed up," said Kai. "How come?"

Cole rolled his eyes again as he turned to pack his art book away once more. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been a little busy with the whole being the leader of a group of ninja thing and alternately saving the world several times and all." No one seemed to notice the hint of regret in his voice, or if they did, they wisely chose not to say anything. He did miss drawing. One of these days, he was going to find some free time and do some sketching.

Luckily for Cole, the topic was dropped when Kai found something new to focus on. The red ninja had produced Lloyd's old hoodie from one of the boxes. "Look at this!" he exclaimed. "Anyone else remember Lloyd's Goth period?"

"What?" Lloyd looked up from the box he'd been rooting through. "Hey!"

"Geez," Kai added as he dug further into his box, pulling out a second hoodie, "how many of these did you have? Was one specifically for when you listened to The Cure, and the other for those times when you felt like writing bad poetry?"

"Kai!" Lloyd wailed as he made a grab for his old clothes. Kai jumped back, out of range, a smirk on his face.

Jay was nearly doubled over with laughter. Cole seemed amused, but he was shaking his head just the same. Zane didn't really understand what was going on, so he continued to sort boxes as the others began a game of keep away, throwing Lloyd's hoodies back and forth between themselves. Eventually, the game ended when one of the hoodies landed on Zane's head and the nindroid returned it to Lloyd. The clothing ended up in the donate pile, since Lloyd didn't really have much use for them anymore.

"Say, how come Nya isn't helping?" asked Jay, his tone curious.

"Do you see any of her stuff here?" replied Kai. "She keeps her stuff in her Samurai X caves."

"Why, is there a problem with how I store my things?" Nya walked into the room, smiling. "Hi, guys. Sensei asked me to check in on you. How's everything going?"

"I'd say it's going pretty well," replied Cole, gesturing to the large piles of stuff chosen to be discarded or given away. At least half the junk the boys had been hoarding over the past few years was going out.

"Aw," said Nya, picking one of Lloyd's hoodies from the donation pile. "I remember these. You were so cute, trying to be like your father."

"Heh, yeah," Lloyd replied, but there was a hint of sadness to his voice, and he wouldn't meet her eyes. She put a hand on his shoulder, and he glanced up, a small smile on his face.

Zane was sorting through a box full of old gis when he pulled out a notebook. It was pretty ratty looking, Jay's name scrawled across the cover. Zane held it out to Jay. "I believe this is yours."

Jay snatched it rather hastily. "Thanks." He started to flip through it, careful to keep the contents hidden from the others. Still, he failed to notice Kai as the fire ninja slowly snuck behind him and peeked over his shoulder. The smirk on his face disappeared as he saw what Jay had written.

"Is that . . . _poetry_ about my _sister_?"

Jay yelped and snapped the book closed. Nya giggled, and Jay felt his face flush, though he wasn't sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. Nya's expression hardened as she saw his discomfort, and made her way over to one of the few boxes marked with a name, specifically Kai's, and began to dig through it.

Kai seemed to go pale as he recognized the box Nya was digging through. "Nya, don't you dare!" He started for his sister, but Cole caught him, holding him back.

"I for one am curious to see what she's looking for," he said. Kai scowled.

A moment later and Nya stood up holding an old, well worn stuffed rabbit. It appeared to be homemade.

Cole let Kai go, barking with laughter. "You have a stuffed animal?"

Kai snatched the rabbit from Nya and shoved it back in its box. "Whatever," he grumbled.

"What's wrong, Kai? Don't think the others would like to meet Mr. Wrinklenose?" Nya asked.

"Mr. Wrinklenose?" The smirk on Jay's face was enormous.

"Oh, shut it," growled Kai. "Nya has one, too. Our mother made them for us, so back off."

Jay turned a questioning look to Nya, and she nodded. "Ms. Carrot Crusher. I'd show you, but she's not on the ship."

The others were too busy discussing the fact that Kai owned a stuffed animal to notice as Zane purposefully dug into a box, removed a small stack of envelopes and surreptitiously hid them in his gi. Everyone, that is, except Cole. The earth ninja didn't point it out, instead choosing to flash Zane a quick smile. He whispered, "Smart man."

Zane ducked his head shyly and didn't reply. Cole shrugged, but left him alone.

It didn't take much longer, once everyone got back on task, to finish sorting everything. Quite a bit of space was freed up as they repacked everything they were planning to keep in a much more efficient manner.

"If we're done here," said Kai, "can I go now? I've got some things I want to get done tonight because I'm going to be out tomorrow."

"Oh?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

Kai shrugged flippantly. "Oh, just the aquarium. No big deal."

"Hey! Aren't they going to be showing the mutant fang fish we captured, starting tomorrow? Can I come, too, Kai?" Lloyd's expression was eager and pleading. "I want to see how it's doing!"

Kai seemed surprised by the request, almost as if he didn't know what to do about it. "Uh, maybe next time, kid. It's kinda something I need to do on my own."

"You sure about that, Kai? You just said it was no big deal," said Cole.

"Well, it's not, I guess, but–"

"So it shouldn't be an issue if you bring Lloyd along."

Kai was trapped and he knew it. "Fine. Lloyd can come. Does anyone else want to tag along, too?" he added sarcastically.

"Zane . . ." PIXAL's voice was unsure as she spoke up inside Zane's head. "I've never been to an aquarium before. I would actually like to go. I know Kai isn't serious about his offer, but do you think, perhaps . . .?" She trailed off.

"I shall ask," he replied internally, before speaking aloud. "Kai, PIXAL says she's never been to an aquarium and would also like to go. Would you mind?"

Kai's expression said he would mind, very much, but aloud he snapped, "Fine, whatever. Be ready to go by ten tomorrow." With that, he stalked off.

"Geez, what crawled up his butt?" wondered Cole, once Kai was out of earshot. He was currently packing up all the stuff they were getting rid of in preparation to move it. Jay was going to take any junk his parents might want off to the junkyard while Cole was going to fly to various donation points in the city. Lloyd was taking care of the rest.

"Don't ask me," replied Nya. "I've lived with him my whole life, and I still couldn't tell you what causes his mood swings. Anyway, later guys!" She walked off.

"Say, once we're done, want to play some more Last Legend?" asked Lloyd.

"Of course!" replied Jay. He turned to Cole and Zane. "You guys in?"

"You bet!" said Cole.

Zane nodded. "Sure. I will see you once you return."

The group broke up, Cole, Jay and Lloyd heading to the deck of the Bounty with their various boxes. Zane overheard the others mentioning that Cole should change out of his pyjamas before they went out as he made his way to the bunkroom. Once there, he removed the envelopes he'd previously hidden and looked them over.

He had never bothered to write anything on them, since he had never intended to mail them. Inside, however, they contained letters, neatly hand written, of various lengths. He wasn't sure why he did it, but sometimes, while PIXAL was busy with his maintenance, he would get the urge to write her a letter. Perhaps it was because of the way they were constantly together; it was nice to be able to do something to surprise her.

He didn't think the letters were very good, to be honest. He never knew what to write, since she was present for almost everything that happened to him during the day, but she appreciated them just the same. She thought it was sweet.

He tucked the letters away under his mattress. He really didn't want the others to know about his odd custom. He didn't think they'd understand, especially since he barely understood it, himself.

"You never wrote me a letter last time," PIXAL spoke up after silently watching him hide the letters.

Zane realised it was true. "I'm sorry. I was distracted by that odd power fluctuation. Next time, okay?"

Before PIXAL could reply, Zane was overtaken by a sudden sneezing fit. She was silent until he stopped. "Are you all right? You really should not be doing that."

"I think so. It was just dusty in there. I suppose dust isn't any better for a nindroid than it is for a human."

PIXAL clearly seemed worried, but she acquiesced. "I hope you are right." She paused as if reading something. "How are you feeling?"

Zane stopped and took stock. "Now that you mention it, I am feeling a little run down again."

"I am seeing something odd in your energy readings . . . but it doesn't seem serious. Nothing else seems to be wrong. Still, don't overdo things, Zane, please."

"I will be careful."

He passed the time helping Nya with odd jobs around the Bounty until the others returned. Then he and the others spent the rest of the night playing video games until it was time for bed.

X X X

The next day, Zane made his way to the deck of the Bounty. Lloyd and Kai were both waiting for him. Kai had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot impatiently.

"I said ten, Zane," he snapped.

"It's only ten minutes after, Kai," Lloyd pointed out, trying to keep the situation civil.

"Sorry, I'm running a bit slow today," Zane apologized.

"Zane," said PIXAL, "there is still something odd going on with your power output. You really ought to get Jay to check it out."

"It's all right, PIXAL," Zane replied internally. "You said yourself it doesn't seem serious. It can wait until we get back. I don't want to ruin this for you."

"Am I interrupting something?" said Kai. "Can we get going?"

"Zane . . ." said PIXAL.

"It will be fine, PIXAL," Zane said internally. PIXAL went silent, but she didn't seem happy. Aloud, Zane said, "Yes, let's go."

"About time," grumbled Kai.

He, Lloyd and Zane were about to summon their dragons and head out when suddenly, Jay came tearing across the deck, chased by a swarm of bugs. He tossed something small overboard and watched as it fell into the water below, the insect cloud following after it. He sighed, slumping down against the Bounty's side rails, idly scratching at his arm.

"Well, that didn't work as planned," he muttered.

"Was that supposed to be your mosquito deterrent?" asked Lloyd, smirking.

"Don't start," snapped Jay. He stood, now scratching at his other arm. "Anyone know where the After Bite is?"

"I believe it is in the first aid kit in the washroom," answered Zane.

"Thanks." With that, Jay wandered back inside.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Can we _go_ now?"

There were no more interruptions, the three finally getting underway. It was shortly after eleven by the time they made it to the city, and another few minutes yet before they reached the aquarium. Kai took a furtive look around as the three landed out front, but didn't seem to find what he was looking for. He tossed some money to Lloyd. "Here, you two go ahead. I'll catch up to you later."

Lloyd looked at him suspiciously. "You were in such a rush to get here, and now you're not even coming in? What's up, Kai?"

"Nothing, it's fine. Go have fun, I'll see you later," Kai replied hastily, giving the two a push towards the entrance. It was then that he looked up through the glass entryway. His face fell and he stopped pushing as he spotted Skylor on the other side. She was watching the exchange with a look of bemusement. When Lloyd caught sight of her, he smirked.

"You should have said you were going on a date, Kai!" he said as the three walked inside to meet up with Skylor.

"What's this, you pull babysitting duty today?" she asked, hand on hip and a grin on her face.

"Hey!" Lloyd and Zane exclaimed together.

Skylor chuckled before turning to Kai. "So what's with the escort?"

"They wanted to tag along when I said I was going to the aquarium," he replied grumpily.

"You didn't tell them why you were coming, did you?"

"Would you tell these jokers when you're going on a date?"

Skylor let out a laugh. "Yeah, probably not."

"Y'know, Zane and I could just go in on our own. We don't have to stick around with you," Lloyd pointed out.

"Kid's got a point."

"True," said Kai. He turned to Lloyd and Zane. "Well? What are you waiting for? I already gave you the money. Go on, have fun. _Bye._ "

"All right, already, sheesh." Lloyd shook his head as he and Zane left the two, heading into the aquarium together after buying their tickets. Once they were a little past the turnstiles, Lloyd turned back to watch Skylor and Kai. Zane stopped, somewhat confused.

"What are you doing, Lloyd?" he asked. "You shouldn't be spying on them, you know."

"What? Who said I was spying?" replied Lloyd quickly. "I just want to make sure they're okay, right?"

Zane knew Lloyd was making up blatant lies to cover his snooping, but truth be told, he, and PIXAL as well, was interested in what Kai and Skylor were up to. They watched the two for a moment before Kai turned in their direction, scowling.

"Okay, okay, geez. We're going!" Lloyd grabbed Zane by the arm and dragged him into the aquarium proper, but not before Zane caught Skylor laughing at the exchange.

The two wandered the aquarium, PIXAL keeping up an excited, running commentary as they went. She seemed to have forgotten her earlier concerns as she watched the myriad fish swimming about in their tanks. She was having so much fun; Zane began to contemplate keeping a small fish tank just for her.

Eventually, Lloyd began to head towards the featured display of the mutant fang fish. Zane followed along slowly. Even though PIXAL was distracted by the fish and wasn't paying attention to his systems, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong, he couldn't help noticing the change in himself. He was still losing energy. It worried him, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. PIXAL was having too much fun; he didn't want to spoil it for her. He hoped whatever was wrong would sort itself out.

He was pulled from his thoughts as Lloyd let out a cry of greeting. At first, Zane didn't see who he was talking to, as he was focused on the fish for PIXAL. When he looked over, he was mildly surprised to see Dareth standing a few feet away. The older man was waving.

"Greetings, fellow ninja!" Dareth said.

"What are you doing here?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, just checking up on my friend, the fang fish, here." Dareth paused for a moment to make strange bubbling noises at the fish. "He says 'hi', too."

"How is he doing?" asked Zane, as if it wasn't strange at all for Dareth to be talking to the fish.

"Quite well, actually. Says that bringing him here was the best thing to ever happen to him. A fish his size needs to eat a lot, and now he never goes hungry."

Lloyd smiled. "I'm glad he's happy here. Honestly, I was a little worried."

Dareth and Lloyd fell into an easy conversation about fish and other wildlife that Zane only half listened to. He continued to watch the fang fish as it swam about its tank, but he wasn't really paying attention to that, either.

He didn't really know how to define it, never having experienced it before, but he felt unwell. He was tired, his joints hurt and there was an unpleasant feeling permeating his body. It just kept getting worse as the day went on. His memories of confronting the Digital Overlord and dying were broken and incomplete, but even what he could recall of that wasn't at all similar to how he felt now. He didn't understand how he could feel this way without some kind of alert going off or PIXAL noticing. He couldn't be sick, could he?

He felt warm. Too warm. Suddenly, his vision fractured, his knees gave out and he collapsed, drawing both Lloyd and Dareth's attention, as well as that of several other aquarium patrons.

"Zane!" Lloyd exclaimed. He and Dareth ran over and knelt by Zane's fallen form.

Dareth reached out a hand to touch the nindroid, but he quickly withdrew it, yelping. "Hot!" He shook his singed fingers.

"He's overheating!" Lloyd turned to the patrons who were milling about, gawking. "Make yourselves useful and bring ice, or anything else we can use to try to cool him down!"

Several of the people were snapped out of their shock by the command, nodded and ran off to do as told. Lloyd turned his attention back to Zane, who was now trembling as if he were cold, even though he was still radiating heat.

"Zane, can you hear me?" the green ninja asked.

Even if he could, Zane couldn't reply. PIXAL was panicking, though no one but Zane knew about it, if he was aware at all. She had no idea what was wrong. There had been no alerts, no nothing, to warn her that this was coming. The hub was now lit up like a Christmas tree, but the alerts all pointed to symptoms, and not the cause. She didn't know how to fix it, and it terrified her. She didn't want to lose Zane again. And, to a lesser extent, she was worried about losing herself – how would these widespread malfunctions affect her, intimately connected to Zane as she was?

"This is bad," Lloyd muttered. He glanced to Dareth. "Look after him. I have to find Kai."

"You got it," Dareth replied. Lloyd ran off as people started to return with bags of ice.

X X X

Kai and Skylor meandered through the aquarium at a leisurely pace, only sort of paying attention to the fish.

"So why did you want to meet me here, anyway?" asked Kai.

"Hmm?" Skylor pulled her attention away from a school of brightly coloured fish and smiled at him. "I like it here. Watching the fish swim . . . it's calming. Heaven knows we could all use a little calm in our lives. Right, hot stuff?"

Kai smirked. "I dunno. I kind of like all the excitement."

"Is that why you brought an entourage?"

Kai rolled his eyes. "I already explained that."

Skylor laughed. "I know, I know. I'm just teasing." She wrapped an arm around Kai, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I missed you, you know. Since I took over my father's business, and you busy protecting all of Ninjago? We don't get to see each other nearly as often as I'd like."

Kai drew her in closer. "Tell me about it. It's just been one thing after another, lately. In truth, a little calm is just what I need. What we need."

Skylor allowed Kai to pull her around until the two were facing each other. She smiled at him warmly as he took a step closer. Her eyes drifted closed as Kai lowered his head down to meet hers. Their lips brushed –

"Kai!"

The two jumped apart, both blushing furiously, not looking at the young man running in their direction. Lloyd pulled up short, seemingly startled.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" he asked.

"Nothing," retorted Kai irritably. "What do you want?"

Snapped back to the issue at hand, Lloyd gave his head a quick shake before replying. "Something's wrong with Zane!"

Kai snorted. "What, is his 'funny' switch stuck to 'on' again?" He started to laugh at the memory of _that_ incident when he got a better look at Lloyd's expression. This was evidently not one of Zane's more minor malfunctions. Instantly, all trace of embarrassment and anger disappeared from both Kai and Skylor. The two became very serious.

"What do you mean?" Kai asked as they followed Lloyd back through the halls. "What's happening?"

"I don't know!" Lloyd couldn't keep the panic from his voice. "He up and collapsed all of a sudden, and started overheating!"

"So you just left him there like that?"

Lloyd shook his head again. "Dareth's with him, but . . . Kai, I don't know what to do."

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'm going to be much help, either. It'd probably be best to get him back to the Bounty. If any of us can figure out how to fix this, it'll be Jay or Nya."

The three rounded a corner and drew to a stop as they took in the scene ahead of them. Zane was lying on the floor in a puddle, as Dareth and several patrons piled ice on him in an attempt to cool him down. The ice was melting fast.

Skylor took quick stock of the room before running over to one of the walls. She picked up the fire extinguisher hanging there and checked it quickly. When it proved to be what she was looking for, she ran back over with it.

"Everyone back up," she said by way of warning. Once everyone cleared the way, she proceeded to empty the extinguisher onto Zane. The CO2 left him steaming and covered in a thin layer of frost, but even that was quickly melting. She turned to Kai and shrugged helplessly. "I did what I could." She sighed. "If only I still had my power . . ."

"It's okay," replied Kai, placing his hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault." Skylor favoured him with a small smile before the two focused back on the task at hand.

"We can't summon our dragons inside, so we're going to have to move him somehow," said Lloyd. "He's too hot to touch, though."

"Leave that to me," said Kai. He walked over and put a hand on Zane's shoulder. As expected, with a little concentration, the heat didn't bother him. He could set both hands on fire without burning himself, after all. "Lloyd, I think we should take him on your dragon. I'd do it, but it doesn't seem like a good idea to carry him on mine, for obvious reasons." Kai carefully lifted Zane's limp form from the floor with a grunt. "Geez, he's heavy."

The small group quickly made their way outside. Lloyd summoned his dragon and Kai climbed on behind him, hauling Zane with him. He smiled apologetically at Skylor. "Sorry things ended up this way. I'll call you later; let you know what's going on, okay?"

"What? No way, I'm coming with you!" Skylor replied.

"Sorry, Skylor," said Lloyd quickly, "but my dragon is already overburdened by the three of us."

"Hmph." She crossed her arms, but she didn't actually seem upset. "You'd better get going. Help your friend."

Both Kai and Lloyd nodded to the affirmative. The dragon, obviously weighed down, struggled into the sky and headed for the Bounty.

Skylor let out a sigh as she watched them go. Soon, they were little more than a speck in the distance, and she turned to Dareth. "Come on. Since there really isn't anything we can do to help, let's go get some puffy pot stickers. My treat."

Skylor didn't realise just how easily distractible Dareth was. He let out a whoop and caught her up in a hug. He was surprised when she let out a small gasp, and he quickly set her back down.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" he asked.

Skylor looked at him oddly, but shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Never mind . . ." She gestured for him to follow her. "Let's go."


	3. The Road To Hell

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Still don't own it, probably never will. Oh well.

I don't say this often enough, but thanks to everyone who's reviewed. They're all really appreciated. :) Sorry about sucking at communication.

By the way, I know I don't keep an update schedule. I write when I can and, as such, can't guarantee when anything'll be done. I do keep updates about how I'm coming along on my fics on my profile, so feel free to check it if you're curious about how the next chapters are coming along. Oh, and if anyone wants to see the cover art I drew in a bigger size, I'll put the link to the tumblr post in my profile, as well.

And if I've made any big errors with this chapter, I apologize. Most of my information came from my husband, who has a degree in computer programming, so he knows more about this stuff than I do, and Wikipedia was kinda useless. My Googlefu is weak. Anywho, you might want to read my other fic, Damaged Sectors, before this if you want a few conversations in this chapter to make a little more sense. Otherwise, on we go.

Chapter 2 - The Road to Hell

She was trapped in the gloom. The only light – a dim, reddish glow – came from a single alert still lighting up Zane's otherwise blank hub. The rest were silent and dark. PIXAL knew the issue stemmed from whatever malicious program was doing this to Zane, as it systematically shut down the warnings before she even had a chance to try to fix them. She gave up trying to fight it after it turned and tried to attack her, leaving her never more grateful for the protective firewall she lived behind.

Terrified, she sat quietly in the hopes that the malevolent software scratching away at her hiding spot would give up and move on before it found a way in and destroyed her. Nevertheless, she knew that was silly. Programs didn't think or work like that, unless it was artificially intelligent in its own right – which would be a whole new set of problems.

She couldn't talk to Zane because he wasn't responding. She couldn't see anything because Zane's eyes were closed. She knew, if they made it out of this, she and Zane needed to work out a way for her to alert the others if she needed help and he was unable to pass on the message.

PIXAL lost track of how long she'd been stuck in hiding when suddenly, the last alert went out and she was plunged into an inky blackness. She couldn't help it, and let out a scream of terror.

"Whoa, hey, no need for that! You're safe now," said a sudden, startled voice.

PIXAL went silent, realising she was no longer trapped in the darkness. Whatever had been trying to get at her in Zane's head was no longer there. Assessing her situation, she soon discovered she had camera access to pretty much everywhere on the Destiny's Bounty. She was in the ship's computers.

She located the camera that corresponded to the voice that was talking to her, and found herself looking down at the blue ninja.

"Jay?" Her voice issued from all the ship's loudspeakers. No wonder Jay had reacted the way he did to her scream. She'd have to learn to control that if she was going to be here long.

He fixed her with a lopsided grin, though there were clear signs of worry on his face. "Yup. Don't worry, we didn't forget about you. Looks like we got you out of there just in the nick of time, to judge from your reaction."

"Jay, what's going on?" PIXAL looked about the room only to see Zane laid out across a diagnostics table. He was currently hooked up to several machines that PIXAL knew to be monitoring his systems and running scans.

Jay, noticing what she was looking at, glanced over to Zane before turning back to PIXAL's image. "Don't know yet. Kai and Lloyd only just got back a few minutes ago. We just started scanning him, after getting you out of there. It's probably going to take a while before we have a better idea of what's wrong with him." Jay paused, almost as though he didn't want to ask his next question. "You were in there. Any idea what it is?"

"I'm afraid I'm as much in the dark as you are. There was a lot going wrong, but none of it pointed to a root cause. I would hazard to guess it's a virus of some sort, but if so, I've never seen anything quite like it. Also, Zane hasn't connected to the internet in weeks, so I don't know how he could have contracted it, unless it has been incubating for quite some time."

"Zane keeps updated with the most advanced antivirus software, doesn't he? I'd doubt anything could have incubated for that long without getting caught. You're right, though. A virus does seem like the most likely cause, but if that's the case, how did he get it? And why hasn't it affected you?"

"Again, I'm afraid I don't know."

The two were interrupted as Nya entered the room. Her expression was hopeful.

"I managed to get in contact with Cyrus. He's agreed to see us as soon as we can get there." Nya paused as she noticed PIXAL on the big screen. "Oh, hey there, PIXAL. How are you holding up?"

"About as well as one can expect, given the situation," PIXAL replied. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"At the moment? Not really," Nya replied. "I don't think we're going to have the means to deal with this on the Bounty. You're welcome to help once we get to Borg Industries, though."

Nya and Jay couldn't miss the expression on PIXAL's face as she glanced over to Zane. "Will he be okay?"

"It's too early to tell. The best I can tell you is that we'll do what we can. You can count on that much, at least."

X X X

Jay switched on the WiFi system, then contacted Nya by com. "My side's active. We're ready for you anytime."

"Roger that," came Nya's reply. There was a brief pause. "There, try it now, PIXAL."

Jay flashed PIXAL a thumbs up, and watched as the AI disappeared from the Bounty's computer display. "Did it work?"

Nya took a moment to reply. "Yup, she's here. You can come join us now."

"Be there in a minute." With that, Jay packed up and left the Bounty, heading back inside the Borg Industries tower.

Once the Bounty had arrived, Nya had parked on the roof. The ninja were met by Cyrus and a small crew who immediately set about moving Zane inside to the diagnostics terminals Cyrus had, until now, been using simply to reprogram the other nindroids. Jay and Nya, with Cyrus' permission, went about setting up a way for PIXAL to access the Borg Industries computer systems.

Jay walked into Borg's office where the others, not really knowing what to do with themselves now, milled about aimlessly as they waited for news. Kai and Lloyd were poking around with a couple of the computers, trying to find a game to play, or at least internet access. Nya, meanwhile, was attempting to keep them from breaking anything.

Cole had his art book out for the first time in ages, taking the chance to do some drawing, though he seemed a little distracted. He would put his pencil to the paper, stay very still for several moments, and then lift it back up again only to repeat the process several times over. It wasn't really the best situation for artistic inspiration.

PIXAL, who was now residing within the Borg Industries computer systems, was having what she attempted to keep as a quiet conversation with Sensei Wu. Jay couldn't help a slight smile, both because, at first, her voice could be heard all over the building, but also, despite the situation, at least she now had a chance to talk directly to people other than Zane.

It seemed like forever, though in reality it was closer to half an hour, before Cyrus Borg entered the room. His expression was unusually grim as he manoeuvred his wheelchair over to the centre of the office, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. Once he had it, he spoke.

"You were right. It is a virus, though I've never seen anything like it. None of the antivirus programs can even find it. It was a minor miracle we were able to identify it, given how well hidden it is," he said.

"So you've found it. Does that mean you can fix it?" asked Cole.

Cyrus shook his head. "Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that. We've only identified it by what it's already done. We still haven't found the source. Even if we do, as we stand right now, we don't know how to extract it." Cyrus sighed. "I'm sorry; I wish I had better news. We're doing what we can."

"Mr. Bor–um. . . father?" PIXAL's voice emanated from several speakers around the room. She still hadn't quite gotten the hang of isolating just one. Cyrus glanced around until he found the screen she was currently residing on, and smiled.

"Ah, PIXAL. Good to see you. What can I do for you, dear?"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"In fact, there is. We could use your help writing a program to back up and replace Zane's systems as the virus corrupts them. Please understand, however, that this is just a stopgap measure to keep him functioning until we can figure out a more permanent fix."

"Understood." With that, PIXAL disappeared from the screen, most likely heading to a computer system connected with the team currently taking care of Zane. Cyrus shook his head, a sad smile crossing his face, before he turned back to the gathered ninja.

"In the meantime, if you wish to help, try to figure out how he picked up the virus in the first place. Knowing where it came from could be very helpful."

"You got it," said Kai. Everyone else nodded in agreement. With that, Cyrus wheeled himself off to rejoin PIXAL and his team as the ninja headed back to the Bounty.

X X X

The ninja turned the Bounty upside down, looking for anything new or unusual that could have carried the virus. By the time they were finished, it was late in the evening, but no one had turned up anything. No one could recall Zane doing anything seriously abnormal that could lead them to a clue.

Everyone ended up meandering into the television room, plunking down on various pieces of furniture. No one knew what to do next, and no one spoke, the silence growing oppressive. Jay, lying upside down with his feet in the air on the couch, fiddled with the box for Last Legend 18 as he wracked his brain for ideas. Suddenly, he noticed something.

"That's weird," he said. "You'd think a company would be a little more careful about spelling their name correctly on the box."

"What?" said Kai. The fire ninja seemed to pale somewhat. Jay raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Here, let me see that," said Nya. Jay straightened up and handed her the game box. She took one look at it and shook her head.

"Didn't any of you dorks notice this is a bootleg?" She turned to Kai. "Where did you get this? For real, this time."

All eyes turned to Kai. The fire ninja scowled, though he couldn't fully disguise the look of dismay on his face. After a moment of pained silence, he sighed and looked away. "I got it at my old Slither Pit," he muttered.

"Kai!" Nya exclaimed. "What were you _thinking?_ "

"I was thinking," he replied sullenly, "that everyone wanted that stupid game and I had a chance to get it. I only stopped by to visit some friends. I didn't intend to fight. How was I supposed to know it was a fake?"

"Because _everything_ you've ever won from there has either been fake or stolen, and you know it!"

Kai crossed his arms in a huff and looked away, but he didn't reply. He knew Nya was right.

"Come to think of it," said Lloyd thoughtfully, "Zane did start acting odd after we first started playing that game."

"But how could he get a virus from a game? He didn't even play it," said Jay. "He only ever watched."

Cole shrugged. "I don't know, but we should probably take this to Cyrus, anyway. You never know."

"Whatever," grumbled Kai. He turned and stalked from the room. The others let him go as they headed back to Borg Industries.

The found Cyrus, now back in his office, poring over several strings of code as they scrolled across the computer screen before him. The older man sighed and ran his hand across his face before he noticed the ninja. He turned his wheelchair about to face them.

"Have you found something?" he asked.

"Don't really know, but this might mean something," replied Cole as he walked over and handed the game to Cyrus.

Cyrus seemed a little confused. "What is this?"

"It's a bootleg game Kai brought home," said Lloyd. "Zane never even played it, but it's the closest thing to a lead we've got. He started acting strange after watching us play."

Cyrus nodded, suppressing a yawn. "I'll check it out, but it will take time. You all might as well get some rest. I should have results in the morning."

Jay looked like he wanted to say something, but Cyrus had already turned back to his computer. Whatever it was, he decided it wasn't that important. He turned and followed the other ninja as they headed back to the Bounty. No one asked how Zane was doing. Cyrus' body language made the answer clear.

X X X

PIXAL was alone, now that the rest of Cyrus' team had left for the night. Unable to do more, she simply watched Zane in silence. He hadn't moved, spoken, or even opened his eyes since arriving. Whatever was killing him wasn't even allowing him the chance to say goodbye.

After a while, PIXAL could no longer stand to watch him deteriorate. She travelled through the computer network until she found Cyrus' office. He was obviously busy when she arrived, so she remained silent, watching him work. There wasn't much she could do at the moment, anyway.

Cyrus had one computer streaming code while he was watching yet another do the same. So far, he hadn't seemed to find anything he was looking for. It was pretty late, and she could tell by the way he kept yawning that he was already exhausted.

Shortly, Cyrus stopped the code for a moment. He removed his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose before slipping them back on and activating the intercom.

"Yes, Mr. Borg?" came a voice from the machine.

"Could you be a dear and have some coffee sent up to my office? And possibly a sandwich? I have a feeling this is going to be a long night," Cyrus replied.

"Yes, Mr. Borg. Right away."

"Thanks." With that, Cyrus turned back to the computer, but he didn't start checking through the code again just yet. Instead, he spoke again. "PIXAL, my dear, is there something you wished to talk to me about?"

She wasn't really surprised to find he had noticed her. She moved herself over to one of the screens closer to him and made an effort to speak only through the set of speakers there, and not throughout the whole building. This time, it worked.

"I was just watching you work," she said. "There isn't much I can do now that the program is complete." She paused for a moment. "Though it doesn't seem to be doing as much to help as you hoped . . ."

"Really? That is unfortunate. If that is the case, then I really should get back to work. The sooner we locate the source, the sooner we may be able to do something to fight back."

The two fell silent as Cyrus went back to work. An intern arrived with the requested coffee and sandwich a short while later. PIXAL watched as Cyrus ate with one hand while continuing to work with the other. She waited until he was finished before speaking again.

"Why are you doing all this? It seems likely that Zane is not going to . . ." PIXAL trailed off, unwilling to finish her sentence, even though she believed it to be true.

Cyrus frowned. "My dear, if we gave up every time something seemed impossible, we would never accomplish anything. I care about you; about Zane and his friends. I'm not just going to let something happen to him like last time, and if that means pulling an all nighter, then by Jove, I'll do it!"

"To carry on when a venture seems impossible is perseverance, but to continue when something is definitively impossible is insanity."

Cyrus couldn't help smiling. "Then I guess I'm crazy."

". . . Thank you."

"Think nothing of it." Cyrus turned back to his code, sipping at a mug of coffee. PIXAL watched him work long into the night. Suddenly, somewhere around five in the morning, Cyrus perked up. He set down the coffee mug and let his hands fly to the keyboard. He had found something.

"What is it?" asked PIXAL.

"I think I've found the source code for the virus . . ." Cyrus paused to tap at the keyboard for a moment. "Oh yes, this is almost certainly it." He stopped and yawned. "I'm afraid this is also almost certainly going to take another several hours to decode, and I am in no fit condition to do it right now . . ."

"Please, get some sleep, Mr. Bo–I mean, father."

Cyrus frowned. "If calling me that makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to, you know. But at least call me Cyrus, okay?"

". . . Okay. At least, until I've become more comfortable with the former. Still, you should get some rest. I would rather be too late to save Zane than allow sloppy work to doom him."

"Point made. I shall see you in the morning."

PIXAL watched Cyrus leave his office before returning once more to her silent vigil over Zane.

X X X

Jay was the last one awake the next morning. He dressed quickly and stumbled out into the hall, still half asleep. He could hear voices as he approached the kitchen and hurried to join. When he discovered the voices he'd been hearing was, in fact, a spirited argument between Kai and Nya, he began to wish he was still in bed.

"Geez, Nya! Get off my back, already! What's done is done. I've already apologized several times, what more do you want from me?" growled Kai.

"Well, for starters, you could stop being such an _idiot_ all the time! This might never have happened if you'd just used your brain for once!" Nya responded in kind.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Lloyd exclaimed. He turned to Sensei Wu, who was calmly sipping tea at the table. "Sensei, make them stop!"

Wu raised both eyebrows. "Perhaps all of us could lower our voices."

"Sorry, sensei," replied Nya, Kai and Lloyd as one. The three fell silent, though Nya continued to glare daggers at Kai, who pointedly looked away.

"Besides," spoke up Cole, "we don't even know for sure yet that the game is where Zane got the virus. Let's not jump down each other's throats until we know for sure, all right?"

There was some more grumbling in response, but the arguing stopped.

Jay set about making a quick breakfast, pouring some orange juice as he waited for his toast to pop. Once his meagre breakfast was ready, he promptly scarfed it down before turning to survey the others.

"Are we ready to go see if Cyrus found anything?" he asked.

Kai gave a non-committal grunt and crossed his arms.

Nya scowled at him before turning a smile to Jay. "Whether we are or not, we should probably get going."

The six headed down into the tower and once again made their way to Cyrus' office. They were surprised to find it empty. The computers were on, but the screens were blank. PIXAL suddenly popped onto one of them, startling the ninja.

"Good morning," she said by way of greeting, but her expression was anything but cheerful.

"Hi, PIXAL. Where's Cyrus?" asked Nya.

"I'm afraid he had to rest for a while. He should be back soon. However, I'm sure he won't mind if I tell you that he believes he's found the virus' source."

"It was in the video game, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Cyrus still hasn't been able to decode it, but it's a start."

Kai flinched. Wu placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How's Zane doing, anyway?" asked Jay, even though he was sure he really didn't want to hear the answer. He didn't get one, but PIXAL's silence spoke volumes. "How long do we have?"

PIXAL obviously didn't want to focus on it, but she still replied after a moment's hesitation. "At his current rate of decline, he may last two more days. Probably less."

"That may be true, but we are well on our way to doing something about it."

Cyrus wheeled himself across the room from the doorway. There were bags under his eyes; it was clear that he was still tired, but since time was of the essence, he could only afford the brief nap. If it hadn't been for pure exhaustion, he wouldn't have slept at all.

"I'll get right on decoding the virus," he continued. "In the meantime, perhaps you may be able to track down the coder who made it in the first place. Someone deliberately planted this. That much seems obvious, so there must be a trail. If you can find them and get them to talk . . ."

Cole punched his fist into his palm. "Then they could tell us how to fix it!" He turned to the others. "Let's let Cyrus get back to work. There's not much we can do here, anyway, so we might as well pursue this angle."

Kai seemed more surly than normal, but he followed as everyone but Wu headed towards the door, the sensei opting to stay behind.

"Good luck," said PIXAL quietly.

"Yeah, you, too," replied Cole. With that, the ninja headed out.

X X X

Kai's old Slither Pit was all the way across town, so the ninja opted to summon their dragons and fly there. It was with some difficulty that they got them into the air, though.

"Is it just me or do our dragons seem . . . antsy?" asked Lloyd. His dragon was currently balking as the green ninja tried to get it to fly higher.

"You're not kidding," replied Kai. He patted his own beast on the side. "Hey, calm down. What's gotten into you? It's not like we're going far."

It took a couple minutes to calm the dragons enough to make the trip. Once they arrived, Kai led the way inside. He cast about the place until he spotted someone familiar. With a shark-like grin, he approached the young serpentine sitting at the bar.

The Fangpyre's two heads both perked up when he spotted Kai, but his expression became wary when he saw the rest of the ninja trailing behind him. "What bringsss you here?" he asked.

"Honestly? I was hoping you could answer a question for me," replied Kai, taking a seat next to the snake.

The serpentine watched as the other ninja took chairs surrounding him and Kai. His twin smiles were tight. "Dependsss. What did you want to know?"

"You remember that bout I participated in a few days ago?"

"Oh, yesss, I remember. It was quite the . . . dissstraction. That wasss a good day for me."

"Ugh, I don't want to know," sighed Kai. "I just want to know who put that game up as a prize."

Now the Fangpyre was laughing with what seemed to be relief. "Isss that all? Sssome kid, called himssself Evil Geniusss, or sssomething like that."

Almost immediately, Lloyd let out a groan and slapped his face. The others turned to look at him in surprise.

"That mean something to you, Lloyd?" asked Nya.

"Yeah. It's not Evil Genius, it's Evil GENEus," he said, putting emphasis on the first four letters of the second word. "It's Gene, from my old boarding school."

"You mean Darkly's? Didn't that kid decide to be good like all the others after you stopped the attempt to take over the school?"

"You really don't know Gene all that well. If anyone was faking it, it would be him." Lloyd shook his head. "This whole thing is probably some twisted revenge scheme for us thwarting him the last time."

"Could he really pull off something like this?" asked Cole.

"Definitely. He's not kidding when he calls himself a genius, at least."

The Fangpyre regarded the ninja coolly. "If you don't need me anymore, I'll jussst be going . . ."

"Oh yeah, sure. See you around, Ratu," said Kai. "And thanks."

Ratu nodded both heads in Kai's direction before slinking off into the crowded room. Once he was gone, everyone turned their attention back to Lloyd.

"Do you have any idea where to find Gene now?" Kai asked.

"As far as I know, he still lives at home." Lloyd grinned rather nastily. "Want to go pay him a visit?

X X X

The five ninja crowded the doorway as Lloyd reached for the doorbell and rang it. Then they waited. And waited. And waited some more.

"What if he's not home?" asked Jay, just as the door finally opened. The kid standing before them was a few years older than the last time the ninja has seen him, but it was unmistakably the little brat who had led the attempt to take over his school. Gene smirked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"So you actually managed to figure it out?" he asked, his voice as nasal as ever.

Kai nearly went for his throat, but Cole managed to grab and restrain him.

"You realise that if Zane dies, you can be tried for murder, right?" asked Jay.

"So? Can you prove it was me?"

"We can tie you to the game you left at the Slither Pit!" yelled Kai, straining against Cole's hold.

Gene sniffed, and continued to smirk. "How? Anyone could call themselves Evil Genius, and it's not like I literally spelled it out for them. Just because you heard it and thought of me doesn't make it proof."

"I hate to say it, but the kid's right," said Nya, obviously frustrated. It was at this moment when her communicator went off. She tapped it. "Nya here. What's up?

"It's Cyrus," was the reply. "I've found something that could prove useful in the virus' code. The coder signed it. They call themselves Evil GENEus, spelled G-E-N-E-U-S. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Yeah, we're already dealing with the 'genius' as we speak. Have you found anything else?"

"I'm afraid not, other than how Zane contracted it in the first place. It was quite clever, actually. The virus was hidden in the opening movie of the game. He picked it up visually." There was a brief pause before Cyrus continued. "If you can convince the coder to assist in the virus' removal, that would be quite helpful."

"Ha!" snorted Gene.

"Oh my, I guess that's out, then. Well, do what you can, all right?"

"Will do," replied Nya. "Thanks. Nya out." She turned a stony gaze to Gene. "Talk."

"I couldn't help even if I wanted to," Gene replied. "I didn't memorize the code, and I destroyed all my work on it. Besides, I created that virus to destroy the nindroid. I didn't bother to figure out how to stop it."

"Okay, that is IT!" yelled Kai. He broke free of Cole's grasp and grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt. "Tell us something useful or else!" To accentuate his words, Kai set his free hand on fire.

"Kai, no!" Nya shot water at her brother, dousing his flames. Cole yelped and jumped clear of the resulting splash zone. None of this made any difference to Gene, however, and the boy just laughed as Cole dragged Kai away from him again once it was safe.

"Well, at least answer one question," said Lloyd. "Why?"

"Why?" Gene snorted. "I'm an evil genius. I wanted to show what I was capable of, and you dolts were the perfect targets. I never did forgive you for ruining my school, so I decided to ruin your nindroid in return."

Cole grunted. "It's obvious we're not going to get anything out of this kid. Lloyd, do you mind staying here and helping Jay and Nya look for clues in case he's lying? I think Kai and I need to make a trip downtown, if you follow my meaning."

Lloyd nodded, and Kai and Cole summoned their dragons and flew off with Gene. He turned and followed Nya and Jay inside. The house was empty.

"Huh. I remember Gene saying his parents were out of town a lot," Lloyd said mostly to himself as the three looked around for Gene's room. He would have been a little more uneasy about digging through the house without going through proper legal channels, but Zane's life was on the line. They didn't have time for that.

It was fairly easy to find Gene's room. It was the only room in the house that wasn't completely spotless. Not to say it was messy, but pretty much all available surfaces were covered in a clutter of papers, books and childish knickknacks. The walls were plastered with school memorabilia from Darkly's. There were two computers on one of the desks, one desktop and a laptop.

Jay and Nya took the computers as Lloyd began to sort through the papers. Time slipped by as they searched, but it was looking like Gene was telling the truth about not keeping anything useful around. After a couple hours spent searching and finding nothing, Nya was almost grateful when her communicator went off again.

"Nya here. Go ahead," she replied.

It was Cyrus again. "Have you found anything?" His voice seemed oddly desperate, and that scared Nya.

"I'm afraid not. We've hit a dead end. What's wrong?"

It was clear Cyrus didn't want to have to tell them. "Zane's taken a turn for the worst. I'm so sorry, but if we don't turn up something soon, and I mean in the next couple hours, he's not going to last the night."

There was dead silence. The three ninja exchanged looks.

"Should . . . should we head back?" Nya asked eventually. She didn't know what else to say.

"I suppose. If there's nothing to be found to help there, you may as well . . ."

"Have you contacted Kai or Cole yet?"

"No, you were the first one I called. Are they not there?"

"No, they went down to the precinct. We'll get them."

"Okay. I will keep searching for a solution . . ."

"Thanks. See you soon. Nya out."

The room went silent again. Everyone knew it; unless by some miracle they found a solution, Zane was going to die for the second time. They'd done everything they could think of, right up to tracking the virus back to its coder, and found nothing. No one wanted to say it, but they all knew they were out of options.

"We should go get Kai and Cole," said Lloyd, finally breaking the silence. "They'll want to be there, when . . ." He trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

Nya and Jay, spurred to action by Lloyd's voice, nodded in agreement and the three headed off.

X X X

The mood was bleak. No one seemed willing to speak. No one had anything to say, anyway. What could you say when you knew your friend was dying, and there was nothing you could do to stop it? It was only a matter of time, now.

The ninja shuffled slowly into the building. No one they ran into on the way to Cyrus' office said anything, but they got a lot of sympathetic looks. Kai's scowl deepened with each one until they finally made it to their destination.

Cyrus was sitting before a computer screen, intently poring over the information streaming across the monitor. His eyes were red and he looked exhausted, but he wasn't going to just give up. He didn't even look up from the computer as he spoke quickly.

"Too busy to talk right now. PIXAL is already with Zane. If you wish to join them, take the elevator down two floors, then it's the first door on the left."

He didn't expect a response, and wasn't surprised when he didn't get one. The ninja followed his directions down. It was the first time since bringing Zane here that they had even come to see him. Until now, they had been too busy searching for a solution. No one had really believed it would come to this in the end.

Zane didn't look any different than before. He continued to lie there, silent and still, eyes closed. The room was being kept cold to help mitigate the damage from his overheating, but no one really noticed the chill. PIXAL was on one of the monitors, silently keeping watch. Her expression was heartbreaking.

Zane was hooked to several monitoring systems, each one making quiet, distressing noises. Jay had a feeling that they would be going nuts if they were allowed to, but everyone already knew what was coming. The alarms weren't necessary.

No one spoke. No one knew what to say. There was no 'power of positive thinking' or anything else that would fix this. Even though Cyrus was still scrambling to find an answer, no one was holding their breath. Time was running out, and miracles were in short supply.

Jay couldn't help noticing that PIXAL, every once in a while, would begin to raise her hand as though she wanted to reach out, remember she had no tangible form, then lower it again. Each time her expression grew more heartbreaking until Jay could no longer stand it. He walked over to her screen.

"PIXAL?" he said quietly, in an attempt to get her attention without drawing anyone else's.

She seemed surprised to see him. "Yes?"

Jay didn't reply, instead raising his hand and pressing it to the monitor. PIXAL, understanding his offer, raised her own until it lined up with his. She smiled at him, but it was painfully cheerless. They both knew what she desperately wanted to do, but given the circumstances, this would have to suffice.

In time, the upsetting noises from the monitors stopped. PIXAL let out a choked cry and disappeared from the room.

Zane was gone.

They'd known it was coming, but that didn't make it any easier to take. Nya covered her eyes and began to sob quietly. Jay walked over and wrapped his arms around her, doing his best to keep from dissolving into a blubbering mess, himself.

Lloyd lowered his head, Cole placing a comforting hand on the green ninja's shoulder. Cole, meanwhile, wasn't sure whether or not to be grateful that he could no longer shed tears as a ghost.

"Dammit . . ." Kai growled. He turned to the wall and punched it. Apparently, it didn't learn its lesson the first time, because Kai punched it again. And then several more times until he started to leave bloody splotches behind.

This was when Cyrus and Sensei Wu finally arrived. Wu calmly walked over to Kai, took him gently by the hands to stop him from damaging himself further, and, in a rather uncharacteristic move, wrapped his arms around the young man in a hug. Kai was so surprised he didn't fight it, instead practically burrowing into it as the anger drained away and he began to cry uncontrollably.

Cyrus stayed in the doorway. It didn't feel right for him to enter. He had failed the ninja, and PIXAL, and that failure had cost Zane his life. It wouldn't have surprised him to find they were angry about it. Still, he glanced about for PIXAL, hoping to talk to her, but she was no where to be seen. That conversation would have to wait until later, it seemed.

He continued to sit there awkwardly, watching his friends vent their grief while he himself wiped at his eyes. Even then, he was wracking his brain for a way to fix this. There had to be something he could do to repair Zane. He couldn't just leave things as they were now. If only they had thought to make a backup after the last time, this would never have been an issue.

Eventually, Lloyd spoke. "Are we still going to be a team, now?"

The others turned to regard him as they considered the question. After a moment, Jay hiccupped out a laugh.

"Of course," he said shakily. "Think I'm gonna skip out and, say, host a game show or something?"

Jay's weak attempt at a joke had the other smiling, at least. Kai extricated himself from Wu's hug, trying to hide the embarrassment he was feeling now, and turned to the others.

"We can't quit now," he said. "Ninjago still needs its protectors. Zane wouldn't want us to stop because of him."

"Kai's right," said Cole. "Ninja never quit . . . well, at least, not this time."

Cole's words drew out a few chuckles, but the mood didn't improve much. The ninja said their goodbyes to Zane before shuffling off to continue to deal with the loss in their own ways. Once they were gone, Wu turned to Cyrus.

"What do we do with him now?" the old man asked. His voice betrayed how weary he felt.

"I would actually like to keep him here for a while longer. I know there isn't much we can do to get him back online without a backup now that his systems are so utterly destroyed, but I can't help feeling there may yet be a way to save him. I don't want to tell the others and get their hopes up in the case that I'm wrong, but still, I'd like to wait before we do something we may end up regretting later," Cyrus replied.

Wu clapped him on the shoulder. "I hope you are right, my friend."

* * *

Extra Author's Note: Please don't kill me! There are still three more chapters of this disaster to go. I've got a plan, just trust me, okay? At least wait until the end before grabbing up your torches and pitchforks. Eep.


	4. A Rare Bird

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own it.

Gah. Sorry for being a broken human being. I had to stop writing for a while, but I think I'm better now. So let's get this show back on the road. Time for Jay to start taking a bigger role, as I originally intended. I mean, if he can nick it back from Kai. That dude seems to be stealing the limelight, here. Whoops. Also, time to explain the cover image and title! Whoo!

Chapter 3- A Rare Bird

There wasn't a lot of talking going on around the Bounty in the two days following Zane's death. It would take time before things returned to some semblance of normal. It didn't help that Nya was insisting on treating Kai like the worst person ever and refusing to even speak to him.

Lloyd was currently in the kitchen, watching Cole as he threw together a strange concoction for lunch. The earth ninja called it stew. Lloyd had already watched him add chocolate, octopus and cheese to a big pot of soup stock, and couldn't help but wonder what would be next. Yet, the green ninja was still probably going to at least try it.

Lloyd had always been of the opinion that Cole wasn't so much a terrible cook as he had very strange ideas about what flavours went well together. Ever since the Snogfruit punch went over surprisingly well, the green ninja had decided to at least give Cole's attempts at cooking a chance. There had actually been a few decent, if odd, meals to come of it, despite what the others tended to say. Even still, Lloyd wasn't expecting much from this present disaster.

It said a lot about the current mood on the ship that no one really seemed to care that Cole was cooking. It was odder still that he chose to distract himself in such a way. Lloyd never would have guessed that, instead figuring that the black ninja would prefer to be pummelling training dummies.

It was when Cole started cutting up bananas that Lloyd decided he really didn't want to know what was going in the lunch pot after all, got up and left. He found Nya on the deck. The water ninja was the one who'd taken to aggressively attacking the training dummies. He watched her nearly destroy two of them before letting up, but it didn't seem to help her mood any. She had been bitter and angry ever since Zane's passing, and showed no sign of cooling down.

"Hey, Nya," Lloyd said carefully.

She turned on him with a scowl, but it softened when she saw who was talking. "Hi, Lloyd. Sorry, thought you were my idiot brother."

Lloyd frowned. "You know Kai didn't mean for any of this."

"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that he did it." Nya placed her hands on her hips, eyes hard. "Kai has done a lot of stupid things in his life, it's true, and every time it was because he simply didn't stop to think. This time, he got Zane killed, and you expect me to just forgive and forget because he didn't mean to?"

Lloyd started to open his mouth to reply, thought better of it and shut it again. Nya took that to mean the conversation was over, and turned away to take out her anger on the training dummies once more. Lloyd wanted to say something to defend Kai, but he couldn't find the words. It didn't help that Nya wasn't exactly wrong, either. Lloyd headed back inside, deciding to look for Kai.

He eventually found him, hiding in a corner behind a stack of boxes in the storage room. He glared angrily up at Lloyd from where he was sitting, hunched up in a miserable ball.

"Beat it, kid," he grumbled.

"Come on, Kai. You can't stay here all day," Lloyd replied.

"You wanna bet?"

"It's almost lunch time. You've gotta come eat. Cole's making stew."

"Oh yeah, like _that's_ a good incentive."

Lloyd huffed. "You can't hide forever, Kai."

"Watch me."

"Look, I know you're upset. I would be, too. I sacrificed my own father to the Cursed Realm, so I think I have some idea of what you're going through!"

Kai's expression darkened. The look he fixed Lloyd with made the green ninja physically back away out of fear. He'd obviously said something very, very wrong.

Kai stood, pointing a finger at Lloyd's chest. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and dangerous. "You have no idea what you're talking about. If you want some advice, keep your mouth shut and leave me alone."

With that, Kai pushed past Lloyd and made his way to the deck of the Bounty, ignoring the rude looks his sister shot him on the way. Lloyd trailed behind him, wisely taking said advice. He and Nya watched as the red ninja summoned his dragon with some difficulty before flying away. Once he was gone, Nya turned back to her vicious training while Lloyd let out a sigh and headed inside.

X X X

Jay was alone in his workshop. He'd spent most of the last two days holed up there, only coming out to eat and use the facilities. He didn't really know what he was doing with himself, making little things from bits of scrap that blinked or played songs consisting of beeps. Eventually, he'd tired of that.

Now, he had the metal falcon on the table. Jay fiddled with the components inside, the bird turned off and partially dismantled. He didn't really expect to learn anything useful from deconstructing and putting it back together, but it was something different to do. The falcon's inner workings weren't at all similar to Zane's and Jay knew it, perhaps better than anyone realised.

Jay was turning to grab a screwdriver when the computer monitor next to him, which had, until now, been sitting on a screensaver, suddenly changed into the image of PIXAL. His first reaction was relief; PIXAL had gone into hiding after Zane's death and no one had seen or heard from her since. It was good to know she was still around.

"Hello, Jay." Her voice was soft and only issued from the computer's speakers. She was getting better at using only the speakers she needed now.

"Hello, PIXAL," he replied. He didn't dare say more for fear of scaring her off again. The two were silent for several minutes before PIXAL spoke again.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing much. Just . . . looking for inspiration, I guess."

"By dismantling Zane's falcon?"

"What, this?" Jay looked at the falcon. Half of its gears were carefully laid out across the work area, the wings in pieces organized by size and shape next to the bird's body. "Do you want to hear a secret?"

PIXAL was silent for a moment, studying Jay as if trying to figure out if he was going to be serious or break into a joke. After a moment, she replied. "Okay."

"This isn't Zane's falcon. Not the original, anyway."

PIXAL was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Jay sighed. "After we got back from Chen's Island, the falcon started taking off on its own a lot. Eventually, it just never came back. I don't think Zane really noticed. To be honest, he never seemed all that close with his falcon after the rebuild.

"I actually snuck out to look for it a few times, but I never found it. I didn't want Zane to be upset when he finally did realise, so I built this replacement from the falcon's blueprints. I told everyone I'd upgraded it, but I lied."

"Zane didn't notice the difference."

"No, he didn't." Jay looked like he was going to break into frustrated tears, but he fought it back. "I really wish he had, to be honest. I wanted him to show some sign of his memory returning. I mean . . . it feels mean, but he's always felt like a faulty copy since he came back. The old Zane _never_ would have let me screw around with his voice, for one."

PIXAL actually smiled. "That was funny, though. He kept complaining about it to me, and I told him to tell you to fix it. He insisted that if he were to do that, you would just do something worse to it."

Jay couldn't help grinning back. "He was right. I would have."

The two fell silent. The mood wasn't as gloomy as before, but it was still a little awkward. After a moment, Jay went back to rebuilding the falcon again, letting his mind wander. PIXAL eventually broke the silence.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Jay asked, nonplussed.

"For disappearing like I did. I realise now I had everyone worried. I should not have taken off like that, but I didn't know what else to do."

Jay didn't have the heart to tell her that most of the others, in their grief, hadn't noticed. "It's okay," he said, instead. "You're back safe, and that's what counts, right? Everyone reacts differently when a loved one dies."

Instantly, he wished he hadn't said it. PIXAL looked like she was going to bolt again, so Jay clammed up and went still, hoping he wouldn't chase her away again. After a moment, she gave a slight nod. "You are right."

Jay let out the breath he realised he'd been holding. When he spoke next, he figured it would be best to try to change the subject slightly. "Were you ever lonely inside Zane's head?"

PIXAL was startled by the question, but she considered it, none the less. After a moment, she nodded. "Yes. Don't get me wrong, I love Zane and being with him was wonderful, but it does get tiresome only having the same person to talk to all the time. It would have been nice to have the freedom to talk to all of you, sometimes, without Zane being the middleman. I miss having my own body; there were several times when I would have liked to do more to assist than just issue warnings."

"That must have sucked . . ." Jay didn't really know what to say. Instead, he changed the subject again. "Can I ask you a question?"

PIXAL couldn't help smirking. "You just did."

"Oh, ha, ha. You know what I mean."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Cyrus said Zane got the virus from the video game, something about a light pattern programmed into the opening movie, but you would have been watching, too. How come you didn't get it?"

"I didn't watch the opening movie. I was busy with one of Zane's maintenance checks. I was rather annoyed at the time; I wished to see what was so interesting about this game, but now I see I was actually quite lucky."

"Huh, yeah. Lucky."

Another awkward silence fell. It was PIXAL who once again broke it a few minutes later.

"It was nice talking to you, Jay, but I should probably go see Cyrus. He should know that I am all right."

"What, you haven't done that yet?"

PIXAL was a little sheepish when she replied. "To be honest, this was where I was hiding out the last couple days. I don't know why, but this particular computer just felt . . . safe."

"I couldn't tell you why. It's not any different from any of the other computers on the ship. Either way, you're welcome here any time."

"Then I shall see you later. Goodbye." With that, PIXAL popped off the screen, presumably hopping back to the Borg Industries computers to find Cyrus. Jay turned his attention back to the metal falcon.

X X X

Kai set down outside of the noodle house where he knew Skylor would be working. His mood had improved somewhat on the trip over, but he couldn't keep a bitter scowl off his face. He did his best to wipe it away before entering.

He wasn't expecting the blast of noise as he entered. Surprise tempered his anger as he made his way inside. The place was packed. It wasn't upsetting; Kai was genuinely glad to see Skylor was doing well. He just wasn't used to seeing the place so full since Skylor took over. The restaurant's reputation had been a little tarnished after it was revealed that Chen was evil.

He spotted Skylor a moment later. She was simultaneously taking one table's order while attempting to deliver food to the one next to them. When she spotted Kai, she smiled tiredly at him and shook her head. He understood what she meant, and waited for her to finish. Once she was done, she walked over to talk to him.

"Hey there, hot stuff. You know I'd never ask this normally, but I'm utterly swamped and understaffed here. Would you mind giving me a hand?" she asked, a rather desperate tinge to her voice.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Kai replied, taken aback.

"Great!" With that, Skylor handed him a note pad and went back to her job.

For a moment, Kai stood there, blinking in surprise, before kicking into gear. It was lucky for Skylor that he and the others spent so much time at her establishment that he knew the menu and the way things worked almost like the back of his hand. The next while was a blur of taking orders, running food and dealing with bills. Only after the last couple left, almost two hours later, did he and Skylor get a moment to breathe.

Skylor went over to the door, locked it and turned off the outside lights, effectively closing up. Then she walked over to Kai, wrapping her arms around him in a hug of greeting. She was surprised when he flinched and pulled away.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked, a worried frown crossing her face. Kai had come across as fine to her earlier, but now his mood seemed to suddenly crash. He said nothing, glancing away.

His response only served to make Skylor more worried. She had never seen Kai like this before. He was usually burning with passion and energy – it was one of the things she loved about him – but now, it appeared as though something had quenched that inner fire. He looked vulnerable and lost, and that scared her.

"Why did you come here?" she asked, not really sure how to handle the situation.

Kai blinked, and she could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. "I told you I'd let you know how Zane was doing . . ."

Skylor felt her stomach twist. The last she had seen of Zane, the nindroid wasn't looking good. Now, here was Kai, on the verge of tears. She had a feeling she knew what was coming. "Oh no . . . he didn't . . ."

Kai dropped his gaze to the floor, shaking his head slowly. "H-he's dead." Kai's fists clenched and he squeezed his eyes shut as he forced out his next words. "And this time, it's all my fault."

Skylor gasped quietly. Instantly, her mind began racing, conjuring up scenarios to explain what Kai was talking about, each one worse than the last. She pushed those thoughts aside, giving her head a slight shake. "Kai, what happened?"

The red ninja let out a shaky sigh and brushed at his eyes, all the while still staring at the floor. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course!" Skylor set a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I refuse to place blame until I've heard the whole story, so spill."

Kai looked up and met her eyes. "Okay."

The two sat down across from one another at one of the booths as Kai began to tell his story. He had a hard time getting it out, stopping on several occasions to collect himself before continuing. Eventually, he had detailed the events ultimately leading up to Zane's death. He was rather self-deprecating at several points.

"I never should have trusted that game," he said. "I knew better, but I didn't care, and now my stupidity got my brother killed."

"Kai . . ." Skylor took him by the hand, her expression serious, but still gentle. "This is not your fault."

"It is! He would still be here if I hadn't brought that stupid game home!"

"That may be true, but let me ask you a question, okay? How did you get the game?"

Kai regarded her, one eyebrow raised. "This is dumb. I already told you. Gene put it up as a prize at my Slither Pit."

"Okay. How did he know?"

Kai blinked. "What?"

"How did he know to put it up as a prize while you were there? How did he know you were there at all? How did he know you and the others were even looking for a copy of that specific game?"

Kai seemed thrown for a loop, but he stopped to think about it. "Jay mentioned finding evidence of him tracking us on one of the kid's computers. I guess he was keeping tabs on everything we were doing for quite a while. He must have gone by that."

Skylor smiled. "There, you see? Not your fault. Sounds like this Gene kid would have gotten the virus to Zane one way or another. It's unfortunate that he chose to go through you, and yes, you probably should have been a little more careful with what you won at the Slither Pit, but it's absolutely not your fault. Nya's upset because Zane died, and it's not fair that she's taking it out on you, but I think she'll eventually calm down and see the truth. Everything will be okay, you'll see."

Kai sighed. "Except that Zane is still dead."

"Well, yes. There is that . . ." Skylor admitted. She was silent for a moment. "There's no way to fix him?"

Kai shook his head. "No. Cyrus said the virus completely wiped out all his programming, systems and memory. Even if we could get him running again, everything that made him Zane would be gone. No one ever thought to make a backup. I guess we all figured he was pretty much indestructible now; he wouldn't need it."

Skylor smiled knowingly. "Typical teenager mentality."

"That's not funny," Kai snapped, frowning.

"Sorry." She still held his hand, watching the way their fingers interlaced as she continued. "I am sorry to hear about Zane. It's kind of sad, now that I think about it. I didn't really get to know him as well as the rest of you, since he spent most of the tournament in my father's dungeon. I did like him, though."

"Heh, yeah."

The room went silent. Neither of them had really realised how much time had passed since Kai's arrival and subsequent storytelling. Now they noticed the light coming in the windows, signalling late afternoon. Kai had shown up at lunch.

"Maybe . . . maybe I should go. It's going to be dinner soon, and I don't want you to miss out on the income because of me." Kai began to stand up, but Skylor shook her head and he sat back down.

"It's not a problem, really. If I'm careful, I can afford to miss one night. Besides, Dareth offered to help drum up business, and I've been swamped ever since. I don't know what it is about that man, but he could charm the scales off a Serpentine. I think, with him helping out, I might do okay for once."

"Dareth is weird like that. Not the brightest, but he's a good guy. Being mean to him is kinda like kicking a puppy."

Skylor couldn't help laughing. "You're right about that." She paused for a moment, considering something. "Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"This might be a little off topic, but I think . . . I think my power is returning."

"What? How?"

"I don't know, but the first time we touched tonight, I got a sense of your element."

Skylor held out her hand, and, with a bit of strained concentration, managed to make a tiny flame dance in her palm. She quickly snuffed it, looking drained.

Kai smiled, a genuinely happy smile, for the first time that day. "Hey, that's great! Though you probably shouldn't force it like that. You could hurt yourself."

"I'll be careful. It does take a lot more energy to do just that, now. I think it's getting stronger, though. I'll have to try again in a few days, see if I'm right." She smiled up at Kai. "It's nice to know my father didn't steal my power forever. To be honest, I haven't really felt complete since it was taken."

"I know what you mean," agreed Kai. He looked like he was about to say something else when his stomach growled loudly. Skylor fixed him with a bemused grin.

"Have you eaten at all today?" she asked.

"Actually, no," Kai admitted sheepishly.

"I'll get us something to eat," she replied, standing up. "But first . . ."

Skylor walked over to Kai's side of the booth, leaned down, wrapped an arm around his neck and kissed him. She held it for several seconds before pulling away again, blushing and grinning like an idiot. Kai was stunned and at a loss for words.

"I've been meaning to do that for a while now," Skylor confessed. She patted Kai on the shoulder. "Honestly, I have this strange feeling that everything's going to be okay, somehow. I know that seems impossible, but there it is."

Kai didn't reply, couldn't really, but at that moment, he believed her.

X X X

Despite what she had told Jay, PIXAL spent most of the day hiding from Cyrus. She was scared that he would be upset with her once more; she didn't want to go through that again. Instead, she decided to take her time and look around the building. Things had changed since she had been here with her own body, and she hadn't gotten a chance to explore when last she was here with Zane.

She hopped from computer to computer, from camera to camera, startling several employees along the way, just looking around. She exchanged greetings with several people she remembered.

Eventually, she knew she had to do what she'd come here for. She jumped to Cyrus' office, one of the two places in the building she had thus far been avoiding, and found it empty. That suggested that Cyrus either wasn't here at all, or he was in the _other_ room.

Steeling herself, PIXAL made the move to the diagnostics room.

Cyrus was sitting in front of Zane's still form, staring at it as through if he did for long enough, he would magically figure out how to fix him. So far, though, he'd come up with nothing. He let out a sigh and shook his head, preparing to leave.

"Cyrus?" PIXAL said, breaking her silence.

Cyrus started and looked about until he spotted her, breaking into a smile of relief. PIXAL couldn't help noticing the tears in his eyes.

"PIXAL! Oh, I am so glad to see that you are all right! Where have you been?" he exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," PIXAL replied. "I hid in a computer on the Bounty. I just didn't know what else to do."

"It's quite all right, dear. You needed your space, that's understandable. Thank you for letting me know you're okay."

"You're welcome."

There followed an awkward silence. Cyrus scratched at the back of his head, while PIXAL fidgeted with her hands on screen. Finally, Cyrus spoke again.

"Was there anything else you wished to talk about?"

"No . . ." PIXAL trailed off, going silent for a beat. "Actually, yes. I must thank you again, for everything you've done. I suspect that even now, you are still searching for a way to restore Zane, and I worry that you feel guilty for not doing more. I want you to know that I, at least, do not fault you for Zane's loss. In fact, I am grateful to you for doing what you could."

Cyrus was silent, staring up at her, his expression clearly shocked. Suddenly, he was smiling, tears streaming down his face.

"I . . . thank you, my dear. I wish I could hug you."

PIXAL smiled back, albeit somewhat sadly. "As do I."

Cyrus chuckled, removing his glasses to wipe at his eyes. Sliding them back on, he replied, "Did you have any additional plans for today?"

"Nothing in particular, why?"

"Would you like to join me in my office for a while? We haven't had much chance to get caught up since . . . well, since the first time you disappeared. And there is a matter I feel I should discuss with you."

"Oh?"

"It has to do with your sisters."

Now it was PIXAL's turn to be stunned. "Sisters?"

"You see, you weren't the first PIXAL unit I built. But perhaps we should discuss this further in my office, yes?"

"Yes. I will meet you there." PIXAL glanced over at the empty shell that was once Zane before disappearing from the monitor. The reminder only served to dampen Cyrus' mood further. He turned his wheelchair about and began the trip back upstairs.

X X X

Breakfast on the Bounty the next morning continued to be a sullen affair. Kai had returned late the night before, after pretty much everyone else had already gone to bed. No one wanted to ask where he'd been or what he'd been up to. That didn't stop Nya from glaring at him, but Kai wasn't taking it as badly as before. That, at least, was cause for Sensei Wu to hide a smile behind his tea cup.

Cole was quietly eating left over stew. It had gone over about as well as Lloyd had suspected. They'd ended up going out for pizza, after remembering Zane was no longer around to whip up something more palatable.

Jay wandered into the kitchen late. This was to be expected as he was the only one still up when Kai had gotten home, and had stayed up long after the red ninja had gone to bed. He'd spent most of this time dismantling and rebuilding the metal falcon. He was actually beginning to scare himself with how obsessed he'd become with it. It was all he wanted to do, but he knew he couldn't keep doing it forever. Eventually, he would have to move on. If neither he nor Cyrus could come up with anything by now, it was unlikely they ever would.

Jay sighed. Who would have thought that the practically unbreakable robot would not only be the first of the team to die, but also be the only one to do it twice?

Eventually, everyone finished their breakfast and began to wander off to whatever tasks they'd decided on to distract themselves with for another day. Wu was allowing them free rein for the time being. Forcing them to train was more likely to cause trouble than solve it right now.

Jay headed back to his workshop. The metal falcon lay in neatly arranged pieces, waiting for him to put it back together once again. Pulling out his tools, he got to work.

It only took him about an hour to piece the bird back together. He switched it on and let it do its own thing as he turned to greet PIXAL, who had arrived on his computer screen halfway through.

"Hi," he said, "where have you been?"

There was no malice to the question; Jay just sounded tired. PIXAL let the question slide. "I spent some time talking to Cyrus. With everything that's happened, he needed some reassurance, as well."

"Oh? How's he holding up?"

"All things considered, fairly well, actually. You?"

Jay wasn't expecting the question, and ended up staring blankly at her for several moments before letting his head drop to the desk. "I'm terrible, thanks for asking."

PIXAL didn't know what to do. Her first instinct was to reach out and give him a reassuring pat, but she had no body with which to do so. Instead, she just replied, "Oh. I am sorry to hear that."

"This shouldn't happen," Jay moaned into the table. "He was a robot. A ROBOT! We should be able to fix him, but . . . we can't . . ." He made a noise somewhere between a sniffle and a sob.

"Zane was never simply a robot, Jay, and you know it. To be honest, I have to wonder if a simple backup would have been enough to save him. He always was unique, even before."

Jay lifted his head from the desk to look at her. "Yeah, you're right about that. We still don't know how he managed to rebuild himself the first time."

"Perhaps he didn't," replied PIXAL.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you familiar with the concept of the Ship of Theseus?"

"No. What's that?" Jay sat up straighter as he regarded PIXAL with a renewed interest.

"It's a philosophical thought experiment that questions whether or not something remains fundamentally the same object, even after all of the original parts have been replaced."

Jay took a moment to think about what she was saying. "So, if I understand correctly, you're suggesting Zane didn't rebuild himself because Titanium Zane technically wasn't him anymore?" Jay paused for a beat. "Ow, my brain."

"Something like that, yes," PIXAL replied, ignoring his attempt at humour. "Though, he did once admit to me that he was just a copy. I refused to believe it, though evidence over time suggests this to be true. Don't get me wrong, I was quite fond of him just the same, but he was . . . lacking something that the original had. It's just that I was never able to pinpoint exactly what that was."

"Titanium Zane was a complete rebuild. The explosion that killed him the first time pretty much atomized his original body. We never did find any remains other than that piece of his face (which was kinda creepy, now that I think about it). Though I doubt they'd help now, anyway." Jay paused, surprised by the shocked look on PIXAL's face. "What? What did I say?"

"Jay, I think you may have just inadvertently stumbled upon the one thing that might bring Zane back." PIXAL now wore a hopeful smile.

"Well, let me in on the secret so I can know what my genius idea is, please?"

"There is still one other remaining piece of the original Zane out there. Granted, it could take some effort to find, but if we can, it might very well solve our problem." PIXAL couldn't help the excited look she now fixed Jay with. "The half of his original power source he gave to me was never destroyed. If we can find it, we may be able to restore him!"

"Not to rain on your parade, PIXAL, but how would that help? It's just a power supply. It's not like it contained a backup of his memories or anything."

"That's where you'd be wrong." She couldn't stop smiling. "You recall how, after he gave me that piece, he could no longer do Spinjitzu without my aid? That wasn't the only thing the transfer did. I admit, I never said anything before because I was scared, and I didn't know how Zane would react, but he also shared his memories with me. There is something special about that power source, and I honestly believe that it is now the answer that we seek."

Jay mulled it over, a slow smile creeping across his face. "You know, you might just be right. Besides, what have we got to lose? Let's find it and give it a shot. . . . Um . . . any idea where it might be?"

"I can't say for sure. My memories of my capture and subsequent dismantling are broken due to poor handling at the time, but I would guess it's still somewhere on Chen's Island."

"Makes sense. Kai did mention that Chen liked to collect rare oddities. Zane's old power source would definitely fit that bill." Jay raised a hand to his chin and began to pace, thinking. "If we're going to search for this thing, you're going to need to find a way to come along."

"True. My current form isn't as mobile as I would like."

The two were silent as they pondered the problem. Jay's eyes were drawn to the falcon, perched on his toolbox, as the metal bird decided to preen its nonexistent feathers.

"PIXAL? How would you like to learn to fly?"

X X X

The team was standing about the cockpit in varying states of patience, having been summoned there by Jay. The man himself had yet to show his face, though. Nya was standing as far away as she could from Kai, who in turn was leaning against a wall. Cole and Lloyd had pulled up chairs, while Wu stood towards the back of the room, sipping his ever-present tea.

After a moment of waiting, Jay finally entered the room, the metal falcon riding on his shoulder. The bird's eyes were now a bright green, instead of their usual yellow. It was Lloyd who first noticed.

"Why are the falcon's eyes green?" he asked.

That drew everyone's attention to the metal bird. Jay held out his arm, allowing it to jump onto his forearm. "Say hello, PIXAL."

"Hello," said the falcon in PIXAL's voice.

Kai did a double take. Cole seemed confused. Nya looked like she wanted to open the bird up and take a look at what Jay had done to its insides. Lloyd just looked like he wanted to play with it. Wu, meanwhile, drank his tea in silence, observing.

"Is PIXAL in the falcon? Why did you put PIXAL in Zane's falcon?" asked Cole.

"To be honest, this isn't Zane's falcon."

"What?"

Jay explained the situation with the metal bird before continuing with the current topic. "Anyway, PIXAL and I think we've found a way to get Zane back. Only problem is, we have to find the thing first. I just figured, since PIXAL's going to be coming along, she may as well do it in style."

Now Jay had everyone's full attention.

"You've found a way to fix Zane?" Lloyd's voice betrayed his eagerness.

"Well, it's a long shot, but it's something, anyway. PIXAL told me that Zane's original power source may also hold his memories. If we can find it, it might be possible to get him back."

Kai straightened up from the wall he'd been leaning against. "It's probably in Chen's museum, back on the island."

Jay nodded. "Yeah, that's what PIXAL and I figured, too. So, who's up for a trip back to Chen's?"


	5. Treasure Hunt

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own it.

Well, I'm still broken, but I'm back again. I at least hope I can get the sequel started before season 7 hits, so I can feel a little less bad about going against all the canon I'm sure they're going to bring in that totally wrecks everything I've been so carefully building up to. That means I've gotta get chapter 5 and the epilogue done before October. I think I can mange that . . . Yup, there's gonna be an epilogue, too. Something I threw in the last chapter worked out a little faster than I expected it to. Huzzah.

So, you may have noticed that I raised the rating with this chapter. It's nothing terrible, I promise, but Jay DOES quote Monty Python's Flying Circus for a reason, so yeah. It's just a couple young adult men talking about young adult male stuff.

Also, this chapter is the reason I based this after season five rather than four, like I wanted to originally. Ghost Cole is a bit of a pain, but I'm putting up with him for reasons you'll discover if you read on. :3

UPDATES! WHOO: Anyone reading this story over again may have noticed I've made some small changes here and there. This is the first chapter to have an entire section completely rewritten (and a plot hole plugged, oops), and the next chapter is going to have a few important changes made, as well. Hope y'all like it. :)

Chapter 4- Treasure Hunt

Whatever the ninja thought the trip to Chen's island would be - swift, exciting, or perilous - it wasn't.

After making their preparations, they set off – only to have the Bounty break down just outside the city. After a lot of angry yelling and accusations, the truth came out. Zane was supposed to help Jay and Nya with maintenance and repairs, scheduled the day after . . . well, everything started. Knowing this, the others backed off and instead set about brainstorming different ways to reach the island.

Attempting to summon their dragons ended in failure. Not one of the beasts would answer the call. No one could figure out why they wouldn't come, but they didn't have time to deal with that situation right now.

Out of options, and after significant debate, the team agreed to charter a ferry, in spite of how much longer and more boring it would make the trip. In the end, it gave them time to process the situation. They set aside much of their earlier grief. With this chance to get Zane back, they were each more determined than ever to see the mission through.

Kai was standing at the ship's railing, watching the wake created as the boat made its way through the water. Even after his talk with Skylor, and the goal of their current mission, he still couldn't shake his crummy mood. Sighing, he crossed his arms on the railing and set his head on them. Several minutes passed before anyone approached him, but when someone did, he didn't bother to turn around and find out who it was.

"Kai? Can we talk?"

Kai straightened up, mildly surprised, and turned to face Nya. "I guess. What's up?"

At first, Nya didn't reply, instead walking over to join him. Kai gave her time to say what she needed. He knew his sister well enough to know she had a difficult time apologizing. They were very much alike in that respect. The two watched the water for several minutes before Nya spoke again.

"I know Gene would have gotten Zane one way or another, even if you hadn't done something incredibly stupid. You know how I get when I'm angry. I wasn't thinking straight, and I heaped all the blame on you. I . . . I shouldn't have done that . . ."

Nya was visibly flustered, and Kai was unable to keep a small smile off his face. This was the closest to an 'I'm sorry' he expected to get from Nya. He wrapped an arm about his sister's shoulders, pulling her in for a gentle hug.

"It's fine," he replied. "I shouldn't have been fighting in the Slither Pit to begin with, so some of the blame does rest with me."

"Kai . . ."

"No, seriously, it's okay. I know this would have happened one way or the other, but the fact remains that I did have a hand in facilitating it. I can't kid myself about that. If it makes you feel better, I'm done beating myself up over it. This mission is too important to screw up, so I've gotta be at the top of my game. No more feeling sorry for myself."

Nya studied him for a minute. "Are you sure?"

He smiled at her. "Yeah." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into another hug and held it for a moment. The two jumped apart as something shiny and metallic buzzed them, squawking with laughter.

"PIXAL!" Kai yelled at her, though good naturedly. PIXAL seemed to really enjoy her current body, spending most of the trip flying about, honing her technique. Jay could attest to the fact that it had taken her some time to simply get off the ground at first. Now, it was practically second nature.

"Look out!"

Lloyd came barrelling around a corner, managing to screech to a halt before crashing into the siblings. He had been chasing PIXAL around the ship, playing games with her to pass the time. Now, he grinned sheepishly at Kai and Nya.

"Sorry. Did you see which way PIXAL went?" he asked. Kai pointed him in the direction the metal bird had flown off in and shook his head as Lloyd once again ran off.

Nya, too, was smiling. "He's still a kid at heart." She paused for a moment. "I'm going to go ask the Captain how much longer it's going to be, and see if maybe I could help speed things up." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "I still don't understand why we can't summon our dragons."

"I know, right? We've been having trouble with them for a while now, but we really don't have time to look into it right now. We need to focus on getting Zane back first," Kai replied.

"Hmmm, yeah. Anyway, I'll see you later."

Nya walked off towards the cabin as Kai turned back to the water. It wasn't long before he grew bored and began to prowl around the deck.

Cole, meanwhile, was practicing his possession skills. Kai discovered this the hard way as a rope suddenly coiled around his ankle, yanking him off his feet and hoisting him into the air. Kai could hear Cole laughing. Annoyed, Kai set the rope on fire. Immediately, he found himself unceremoniously dumped on his butt as Cole yelped and zipped clear.

"What the heck, Kai!" he exclaimed. He looked at the fiercely burning rope. "Do something before you burn the whole ship down!"

Rolling his eyes, Kai grabbed the rope and threw it overboard. "There, problem solved."

The two watched in silence as it hit the water, only to float, still ablaze. Cole was the first to break the silence with a snort of suppressed laughter. Then Kai joined in, and soon the two were laughing uproariously. It took several minutes before either of them calmed down.

Kai wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "Man, I needed that."

"I can imagine." Cole clapped Kai on the back. "Glad to see you're feeling better, though."

"It helps that we've got a chance to fix the mess I helped make," replied Kai. "I just hope Jay and PIXAL are right about this."

"Same here." Cole looked around furtively. "Man, I hope the Captain didn't see that. Still, we should probably replace that rope when we get back. I'm gonna go see if I can find another one; maybe I can catch Jay this time." Cole grinned before walking off through a wall. Kai shook his head before turning to watch the flaming rope, still burning merrily away even as it was left behind.

Turned out, Jay found Kai, the blue ninja joining him at the deck. "Whatcha doing?" he asked in a singsong tone, hands clasped behind his head, a ridiculous grin plastered across his face.

"Watching a rope burn," Kai answered honestly, pointing out across the water. Jay's eyes went wide when he saw it.

"Whoa! How did you do that?"

"Don't ask."

"Okay!" There was a beat before Jay spoke again. "Say, can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"Where were you the other night? You were out awfully late . . ."

Kai raised an eyebrow. The way Jay was talking suggested he knew something. Given that Kai hadn't told anyone where he was going, he found himself wondering just what Jay knew and how.

"None of your business."

"Aw, come on. You can trust me. I won't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?" Now Kai was starting to get irritated.

If Jay's grin were any bigger, the top of his head would have fallen off. "That you spent the night with Skylor. A little wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more?"

Now Kai was really irritated. "How the heck do you know that? And wink, wink what? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Dareth called before we left. Said he went by Skylor's to get some puffy pot stickers and saw the two of you talking. And you know exactly what it means. Come on, you stayed out all night with your girlfriend. What else would you be doing?" Jay nudged him in the ribs, his smile bordering on conspiratorial.

"Actually," Kai ran a hand across his face as it turned red from embarrassment, unsure why he was admitting it, "we didn't do anything. We talked, ate noodles, then watched cheesy monster movies until I fell asleep in her lap."

Jay looked like he just won the lottery. "Pfft. Really?"

"Yes, really." Kai narrowed his eyes. "Why? Is there something else we should have done instead? Something couples tend to do?" And now Kai's voice became dangerous. "Something you've been doing with _my sister_?"

Instantly, the colour drained from Jay's face and he backed away nervously. "I . . . I don't know wh-what you're talking about! Ha, ha, ha . . . oh, I think I hear my mom calling! Ha, ha . . . bye!" With that, Jay broke and ran.

Kai let him go. He had no idea if Jay and Nya were doing anything, and he really didn't want to. It wasn't any of his business, anyway, so long as they were being safe about it.

Thankfully, he was distracted from those thoughts when Lloyd, PIXAL now perched on his arm, walked over to join him.

"Hey, Kai," said Lloyd.

"Hey, yourself, squirt." Kai ruffled Lloyd's hair playfully. In response, the green ninja yelped and threw up his hands to brush Kai off. PIXAL let out an indignant squawk and flew to the ship's railing. Kai couldn't help grinning. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Not really. We're just taking a rest."

"Ah." Kai was silent for moment. "Lloyd?"

"Yeah?" The blonde regarded him quizzically.

"About the other day . . . I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I shouldn't have said that."

Kai shook his head. "No, you were right. I just didn't want to see it." He couldn't help noticing the way Lloyd flinched slightly and looked away. "You all right?"

Lloyd was silent for several minutes, staring out at the ocean surrounding them. When he finally turned back to face Kai, the red ninja was surprised to see Lloyd was crying.

"I'm glad we have this chance to get Zane back, but . . . I wish we had the same opportunity to get my dad back." Lloyd paused, blinking more tears from his eyes. "I really miss him, Kai . . ."

Kai didn't say anything; he simply pulled Lloyd into a hug, allowing the younger teen to bury his face in his chest as he started to sob in earnest.

PIXAL watched the two in silence, feeling awkward, like she was intruding on a private moment. Eventually, she turned away, trying not to impose any more than she already had. She found herself thinking about Cyrus, and wondered how she would react were something terrible to happen to him. The well of emotion brought up by the thought of him dying surprised her greatly.

She found it difficult to think of him as a father. She had been designed simply as an assistant, and that fact was still part of her coding. She felt less like his daughter and more like his secretary. Despite everything, she couldn't shake the feeling that he still owned her; even though he had made it very clear she was her own person, belonging to no one.

Still, he was doing his best to rectify that situation. He didn't have to tell her about the previous PIXAL units, knowing how that information could strain their relationship further, but he had. There were fifteen who came before her, none of which had functioned correctly. They all ended up scrapped for parts until she herself had been built.

She found it strange to learn her own origins. Cyrus had good reason to tell her; he wasn't just trying to upset her. As it turned out, he was still in possession of many of the spare parts. While alone, it wouldn't be enough to build her a new body; if she could somehow recover some of her original frame, he might be able to use that along with his store of parts to build one.

Admittedly, it felt like she was betraying Zane in some small way by not focusing solely on him, and instead using this mission in part as a quest for her own restoration. She was almost certain she could find at least some parts of herself still in Chen's dungeons. It couldn't hurt to look for that at the same time, right? Still, only Jay and Cyrus knew about this little side trip simply because she didn't want anyone else to know. It felt selfish to her, but it could be her only chance.

PIXAL pushed those thoughts aside as she glanced back to Kai and Lloyd. The green ninja was still crying, but not as hard as before. Kai continued to hug him, silently supporting the young man.

PIXAL looked away again, this time noticing something as she looked out across the water. An island bearing a castle was coming into view. "Kai? Lloyd?"

Kai looked up in response to her quiet inquiry. Lloyd stayed as he was, though he went still to listen.

"I believe we have arrived."

X X X

It wasn't long before the ferry docked at their destination. The five ninja plus PIXAL, once again perched on Jay's shoulder, gathered at the stairs leading up to the castle gates. It was a little over a year since anyone had come to Chen's Island, and the place looked it. Ivy was covering much of the castle walls, plants poking up through the cement in places.

"We're all clear on the plan?" asked Cole, surveying the group. Everyone nodded. They were split into groups of two; Kai and Lloyd, Cole and Nya, and Jay with PIXAL. Each team was tasked with exploring specific areas of the castle proper. It was unlikely that they would find what they were looking for anywhere outside.

"Good. You've all got your communicators, so if you find anything, be sure to pass it on. Now, let's get searching."

Kai and Lloyd headed off to the museum wing, while Cole and Nya took to searching the castle's many rooms. Meanwhile, Jay and PIXAL made their way to the dungeons and catacombs. Everyone was fairly certain it would be Lloyd and Kai to locate the power source first, but just in case, they would cover more ground faster this way. As it was, PIXAL specifically requested searching the dungeons. Jay offered to pair off with her, because he was the only one who knew what else she was looking for.

"What are the chances that Chen didn't know what he had and just left it in your old frame?" Jay asked as the two headed down a once hidden flight of stairs towards the lower levels of the castle. PIXAL used her eyes to light up the area, the castle having lost electricity long ago. Jay carried a flashlight.

"It is unlikely that not knowing what it was would dampen his enthusiasm to have it, but I suspect he did. I cannot think of another reason for why he would have me dismantled." PIXAL responded as she swept the area, looking about. She and Jay systemically checked the cells as they continued their conversation.

"Weird that they would worry about keeping you functional, if that's the case."

Most of the cells were empty save for debris littered everywhere. It wasn't looking like they were going to find much of anything down here.

"I expect that they kept me alive so they could better control Zane, if need be. He would have been much more dangerous, had he nothing to lose."

"You're probably right about that." Jay shone his flashlight into yet another empty cell as PIXAL flew off ahead of him to check one more. The two fell silent for a while, simply looking around quietly. It was a good twenty minutes before they even reached the area where Zane and PIXAL had been held. Neither of them had expected to find much, but they were surprised.

"I don't believe it," PIXAL said as she cast about. "It's all exactly as I remember it."

"They must not have gotten a chance to clean up after the tournament started," replied Jay as he followed her into her old cell. The computer she has been stuck in was still there on the desk, one of her arms lying beside it.

"Do you see my torso anywhere? If you are correct, then that will be where the power source is located."

There were several boxes scattered throughout the room. Jay, and PIXAL to the best of her ability given her current form, went rooting through them. They found several pieces of her original body, but the head and torso seemed to be missing. Jay packed what they did find into his bag to take to Cyrus later.

Unfortunately, Zane's power source was nowhere to be found. The two figuratively turned the room upside down, but found nothing else.

"Well, we did kind of expect the power source to be in the museum," Jay said, sensing PIXAL's distress. The robot falcon turned to regard him silently for several moments.

"You are right," she said at last. "We should continue to search our designated area."

X X X

Kai and Lloyd wandered the dark museum. Lloyd carried a flashlight, while Kai, being Kai, used one hand as a torch.

"Man, this place is even creepier in the dark," Kai muttered as the two made their way past various displays. The place was dark, dusty, but mostly undisturbed from the looks of things. As far as Kai could remember, everything was as it was the last time he was here. There was evidence of rodent activity, but not much else.

Kai swung his hand over to illuminate a painting and couldn't help a snicker. Lloyd turned to look at him.

"What's so funny?" he asked, turning his flashlight to the painting Kai was laughing at. It was an old illustration of an Anacondrai.

"Sorry," said Kai. "Just remembering the last time I saw this." He then did an imitation of Master Chen. "'The reds, the purples, the super dark purples.'" Kai shook his head. "That guy was nuts."

"Heh, yeah," agreed Lloyd.

The two pulled their attention away from the painting and continued to look around. Turning a corner, Kai pulled up short. "Whoa . . ."

"What?" Lloyd hurried to join him, looking down the corridor that currently had Kai's attention. "Yeesh, what a mess."

"Someone's been here," said Kai. He inspected the disaster as the two carefully made their way through the broken display glass now littering the floor. "Looks like they looted the place pretty good, not to mention they knew what they were doing. The only stuff I can tell is missing would be worth quite a bit to the right collectors."

"You think they're still here?"

"Nah. There's dust already covering their tracks. They're long gone. I just hope that, if Zane's power source was here, they didn't take it, too. Otherwise, we might never find it."

"Good point. Man, who would come all the way out here just to loot the place?"

"Anyone looking to make a quick buck, I'd guess. All it would take is access to a boat."

"Yeah . . . hey, Kai!" Something had grabbed Lloyd's attention, and he rushed off without waiting to see if Kai was following. He knelt down and picked something up from the floor just as Kai caught up with him. The red ninja's eyes went wide.

"It's Zane's falcon!" Kai exclaimed.

"It's broken again," said Lloyd. He sounded sad. "You think Jay can fix him?"

"Only one way to find out." Kai raised his communicator. "Jay, come in!"

There was silence for a moment, and then Jay's voice replied, "Yeah? What's up, Kai?"

"We found Zane's falcon, but it's broken again. Think you can fix him?"

"Depends on what's wrong with it, but I'll take a look. Meet me in the courtyard, okay?"

X X X

Kai and Lloyd beat Jay and PIXAL to the meeting point. It took them a minute or two longer to get outside simply due to the amount of stairs they needed to climb on the way out. Kai was already impatient by the time they arrived. Lloyd handed the robot over to Jay.

"Huh, looks like it was attacked by something," Jay said after carefully examining it. He pushed back some feathers to reveal a slice in the robot's exoskeleton. "I can't fix the damage to its exterior right now, but I think I can get it going again, at least. Looks like a couple wires got cut, is all."

Everyone watched Jay work in silence. The blue ninja always carried a small tool kit with him for situations such as this, and soon he had the wires replaced. Once that was done, the bird came to life with an angry screech. The three backed away from the thrashing wings and snapping beak, waiting for the falcon to calm down. PIXAL, however, looked surprised before hopping from her current perch to approach the other robot.

Zane's falcon stopped short when it saw PIXAL, examining the sleek metal version of itself. It squawked questioningly. PIXAL replied with a chirp and the two birds started talking to each other with a series of sharp noises.

"What's he saying, PIXAL?" asked Jay.

PIXAL continued to talk to the falcon a moment longer before turning back to Jay and the others. "Mostly, he's just venting about being attacked. He was looking for something, though I don't know what just yet, and he was assaulted just as he found it."

"Ask him why he left," said Lloyd.

"And what it was he was looking for," added Jay.

PIXAL nodded, and went back to conversing with the falcon. A series of croaks, caws and shrieks later and PIXAL turned once again to translate. "He says he left because Titanium Zane was barely Zane at all, anymore, and it upset him. He came here looking for the same thing we did. I gather Zane's power source is also the source of the signal the falcon used to track him with. He was very confused when, after leaving the island, Zane's signal broke in two, with the stronger one by far remaining here."

"What on Ninjago did Dr. Julien use to power Zane?" Jay's voice was incredulous. "Did the falcon see who or what attacked him?"

There was another quick exchange before PIXAL replied, "No. Whoever it was must have taken the power source, because it is no longer here."

"The falcon can track it, right?" asked Kai.

"Yes."

"Will he help us find it now?"

PIXAL related the question to the falcon. To judge from its body language, she almost didn't need to translate the answer. "He pretty much said 'duh, of course!' The falcon considers Zane his brother, and he will do whatever he can to get him back."

"Brother, huh?" Kai raised an eyebrow before shrugging it off. "I guess that makes sense."

"Oh, yeah!" exclaimed Lloyd. "I remember Zane telling me something along those lines once. How he and the falcon shared a bond beyond just master and pet."

The falcon responded with a noise everyone could tell was agreement.

"Well, we should probably let the others know what's going on, since staying here isn't going to accomplish anything." Kai raised his communicator. "Cole, come in."

"What's up?" Cole responded a moment later.

"You and Nya can come back, now. The power source isn't here, but we've found someone who can lead us to it."

"Oh, really? Who's that?"

"Zane's falcon."

There was a brief pause. "We'll be right there."

X X X

Soon, the ninja were back on the ferry, following directions from Zane's falcon. They seemed to be heading towards the mainland, but angled away from New Ninjago City. A quick consultation of a map showed they were heading in the direction of Stiix.

There was no horsing around this time. Everyone was too antsy about what they might find. Depending on who had it now, they might not be able to even get the power source back. If someone had bought it and didn't want to part with it, they were going to be out of luck.

The journey by boat took a few hours, though it seemed like much longer, before they arrived in Stiix. Figuring they could find alternate transportation from there, if the dragons still wouldn't respond to summons, they paid off the Captain for his services (and the rope) before setting out on foot.

According to Zane's falcon, the power source was somewhere just outside the city. It and PIXAL led the way, the ninja following close behind.

"This kinda reminds me of the first time the falcon lead us somewhere," said Jay. The blue ninja already sounded a little winded as he jogged along with the others, trying to keep up with the two robot birds.

"Tell me about it," agreed Kai. "I just hope we aren't going as far, this time."

They were already fifteen minutes out of town before the falcons swooped around a rocky ledge and disappeared ahead of them. Zane's let out a cry that seemed to indicate they had arrived.

As the ninja rounded the corner, a familiar ship came into view. Kai groaned and slapped his forehead. "Oh, no. Not Ronin."

The falcon was hovering over REX, attempting to get into the ship, suggesting Zane's power source was somewhere on board. The ninja looked around, but Ronin didn't seem to be present.

"His ship is here, so he must be around somewhere," said Nya. "Question is, do we go looking or just wait for him to come back?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that," spoke up Jay. He pointed into the distance, where a figure wrapped in a cloak wearing a reddish, woven straw hat was approaching. He didn't seem to have noticed the ninja yet.

Ronin, for his part, could see them swarming around REX, but he couldn't yet tell who they were, though he had his suspicions. He opted to pretend he hadn't noticed until he was sure, and go from there. It didn't take him long to identify them, and immediately he began contemplating a plan to deal with them. He knew if he turned and tried to run, they would just chase him down. It would be best to see what they wanted.

He shrugged off the cloak and tipped his hat as he arrived, smiling at the five frowning faces and – were those falcons? – opened the cockpit of his ship as he tossed the cloak inside.

"Hey, guys! Can I help you with something?" he asked, carefully staying near the open cockpit in case things went south.

"You've got something of ours that we would really like to get back," said Cole, arms crossed.

Before Ronin had a chance to reply, the falcon let out a cry and flew into REX.

"Hey! Get your filthy bird outta my ship!"

Ronin climbed in after the falcon, intent on chasing it out, as the bird started clawing and pecking at a storage container. Ronin drew back as it hissed at him and tried to bite. He jumped as he turned around; the second falcon was now perched on an outcropping behind him. PIXAL watched him carefully, her green eyes shining.

"What is in the storage unit?" she asked.

Ronin blinked. The voice was familiar, but the body was all wrong. "Who wants to know?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"I am PIXAL. You should remember me, as we have met once before."

"PIXAL . . . PIXAL . . ." Ronin snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! You weren't a bird back then." He paused for a minute. "Speaking of which . . ."

Ronin grabbed the nearest thing that wasn't bolted down, which turned out to be a length of pipe, and began swatting at Zane's falcon. The robot bird screeched angrily and flew out of range. However, Ronin's wild swinging managed to knock the storage bin open, spilling out several items. Among them was a glowing blue piece of . . . something.

Up until now, the ninja were content to watch Ronin deal with the robot falcons, snickering occasionally. As soon as Zane's power source made its presence known, the mood suddenly became very serious.

"There it is!" exclaimed Jay. "That's what we're looking for!"

"What, this?" Ronin continued to fend off Zane's falcon as he picked up the glowing item. "Why would you want this hunk of glowing rock?"

That comment only managed to further enrage the falcon. It went for Ronin once more until PIXAL screeched something at it. It took a moment, but eventually what she said seemed to sink in and Zane's falcon calmed down and perched quietly. It continued to glare at Ronin.

The ninja exchanged glances. Eventually Cole shrugged and spoke up. "That 'glowing rock' is Zane's power source, and we need it to fix him."

Ronin raised an eyebrow. "What's so special about this that you can't just use any old power source? Why don't you just plug him into a wall, or something?"

"Zane's power source is unique," said PIXAL. "It is the only chance we have of retrieving him."

Ronin smiled winningly. "Oh, well. In that case, I'll sell it to you. How about five hundred?"

Instantly, the falcon screeched in anger, accompanied by an expletive from Kai. Cole constrained the red ninja as PIXAL screamed at the falcon again until it settled down once more. Ronin just laughed.

"Technically, we shouldn't have to buy it," reasoned Jay. "It belongs to Zane, so you should return it."

"Yeah, but the way you talk, it sounds like he's died or something, so unless he left it to you, I stole it fair and square. So it's mine now. Five hundred and fifty."

Nya frowned. "You know what? PIXAL? Let the falcon rip his face off. We'll just loot the corpse."

"Come on now, doll face. Don't be like that. A man's gotta eat, right? How else am I supposed to get by if I can't sell my ill gotten goods?"

"You could try getting an honest job for once," growled Kai.

"Nah, tried that. Didn't suit me." Ronin was grinning from ear to ear now. "How's my favourite negotiator, though? Did you want to make me an offer?"

Kai knew the situation was too important for him to screw it up. He set his jaw and replied with a firm, "No."

"Come on, don't say that. You must want to add something to all of this." Ronin tucked the power source away into a pocket before strolling over to Kai's side and wrapping an arm around the frowning man's shoulders. Kai shoved him off, but remained silent. Ronin raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I admit it, I'm impressed. I'll tell you what. I'll go down to three hundred. Just because I like you all so much." He winked at Nya. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Look, we don't have the money to pay you," admitted Lloyd. "And we don't have time to mess around negotiating. Is there anything else we could give you in exchange?"

"Depends. How much value do you place on Zane's life?"

This time, it was PIXAL who let out the enraged cry and attacked. Landing on Ronin's head, she proceeded to peck and scratch at him.

"Hey! Ow! Stop that!" The ninja just laughed as Ronin danced around, trying to pry PIXAL from his head. "Ow! Call off the crazy bird, would you!?"

"Hmm, let me think about it for a minute . . . no," replied Kai.

"Alright, already! I'll tell you what I want, just get this thing off my head!"

"Oh, what's that?" Cole crossed his arms.

"The Samurai X mech! I want the Samurai X mech; now get this bird off me!"

Nya spluttered angrily for several moments before she was even able to utter a very definite, "NO!"

Ronin finally managed to catch PIXAL, holding the angry robot bird with her wings pinned to her body, even as she continued to thrash and attempt to peck him. Now that he wasn't being savaged, he turned a grin on Nya. "Aw, why not? It's not like you're using it anymore. What have you got to lose?"

"There is NO WAY I'm giving you, of all people, my mech suit!" yelled Nya. "Even if I'm NOT using it!"

"Well, I guess I'll just be keeping that power source, then."

Jay approached Ronin, taking PIXAL from him and allowing her to perch on his arm. She was obviously still livid, but she knew attacking again would solve nothing, and so sat quietly, glowering.

"Come on," said Jay. "Isn't there anything else we could give you? Nya and I'll build you your own customised mech if that's what you really want."

"Nope." Ronin shook his head and turned away, walking back to REX and climbing inside. He shooed Zane's falcon out before taking a seat at the controls. "Samurai X mech or nothing." He started the engine. "Find me later once you've decided to trade."

Nya bit her lip as REX began to lift up from the ground. She glanced to the others, but none of them knew what to say. As much as they wanted Zane's power source, they weren't going to force her into a trade she didn't want to get it.

Nya watched as REX began to draw away. Suddenly, she found herself running after the ship, waving her arms. "Stop! Come back! I'll – I'll give you the mech!"

Ronin stuck his head out the window and smirked. "There, see? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" REX came back down to the ground, Ronin climbing out as the others jogged over. "So, let's have it, and this," Ronin pulled Zane's power source out of his pocket, "will be all yours."

"I don't exactly carry it with me," Nya snapped. "I'll have to summon it. It might take a while to get here, though."

Ronin shrugged. "I can wait." He leaned back against his ship, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, well, we can't," said Cole. "Look, if you fly us over to pick it up, it'll be faster for all of us."

"Fly you?" Ronin fixed Cole with a suspicious look. "What happened to your fancy dragons?"

"Yeeeaaah . . . they're kinda not showing up when we summon them right now," replied Jay. "We don't exactly have a way home, either, so if you wouldn't mind taking us back to the city afterwards, too . . .?"

"Sure, hop in." Ronin held up a hand to stop the ninja before they could board right away. "But it'll cost you."


	6. The Way Home

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own it.

Well, here we go. The last chapter. Time to end this monstrosity! At least until the epilogue, anyway. D'ya ever find, when you're writing something and it's not going well, it's because the characters are fighting you? Like, you're trying to push them in a direction they don't want to go, even if it's not exactly out of character? It's just not something they'd do in that particular situation. And then, once you figure that out and start listening to what they do want, things go much smoother? Yeah, that happened at the end of this chapter. That said, it's not quite the ending I originally had in mind, but it feels right for the characters. Don't worry, the epilogue'll make everything better, I promise.

Chapter 5 – The Way Home

"You know, you could have mentioned Zane is actually dead earlier. I may be a heartless bastard, but even I have _some_ class." Ronin rubbed at a scratch one of the falcons had left on his cheek. "And it would have hurt less."

"Now that you understand the situation, will you maybe not charge us for Zane's power source?" asked Jay.

Ronin chuckled and shook his head. "No dice. We made a deal and I'm holding you to it. What I will do is fly you back to the city, free of charge."

Nya rolled her eyes. "You'd better not be planning to do anything terrible to my mech."

"I think you mean 'my' mech now, sweetheart," Ronin replied. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt it."

"What do you even want it for?" said Jay. "Thinking about becoming a vigilante or something?"

"Yeah right," Kai said with a snort. "He's more likely to use it for crime."

"Heh," was Ronin's only response.

Silence fell as REX continued on its course, heading for Nya's Samurai X cave. To pass the time, the ninja had been filling Ronin in on the situation, but there were still a few things he wasn't clear on.

Ronin glanced to the gleaming metal bird PIXAL now inhabited. "Y'know, I had no idea that lunatic was going to take you apart. Sorry about that."

PIXAL regarded him coolly for a moment. He seemed awfully flippant, but at the same time, her scanner readings suggested he was being honest. "I suppose it is all right. What's done is done. There is no use dwelling on it."

"What are you talking about, anyway?" asked Cole. "You know each other somehow?"

"Ha! You mean to say you haven't figured it out yet?" replied Ronin. "Who do you think grabbed your precious little robot friends for Chen in the first place?"

"What? Why?" asked Jay.

"You really have to ask me that? He paid me to, of course."

"Why would Chen want me?" asked PIXAL. "I understand why he wanted Zane."

"Trust me, you really don't. He didn't want Zane; at least, that's not what he told me. He wanted Zane's power source. You just happened to be the one who had it when I finally got a chance to nab you. I would have left your boyfriend behind, but I figured Chen might pay me extra for the both of you."

"Oh." PIXAL fell silent, not knowing how to respond.

"You really are the worst," said Nya.

"Never claimed to be anything else." Ronin shrugged. "By the way, we're here."

It didn't take long to move the Samurai X mech out of the cave and stow it away on REX. By the time they were done and on the move again, Nya's mood had soured considerably. Ronin kept his word, flying the now silent group the rest of the way back to New Ninjago City. He surprised them by taking them all the way in to the Borg Industries tower before dropping them off.

"A pleasure doing business with you. I hope you can save your friend." Ronin gave a casual salute before gunning his engines and flying off. Nya watched him go, frowning.

Jay put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe we can get it back someday."

Nya sighed and shook her head. "Nah. My days as Samurai X are over. I really don't need the mech anymore. Still, this isn't quite the way I imagined it would go when I finally gave it up."

"If you're sure . . ."

"Of course I am!" Nya snapped, turning on him with a frown, hands on her hips. "Zane is more important than hanging onto something that's just been sitting around, gathering dust!"

Jay backed off, hands raised defensively. "Alright, sorry."

Nya grumbled and stalked inside, not waiting for the others. They all knew she was upset about giving up her mech, even if it was for a good cause.

Jay grabbed up the bag containing both the salvaged parts of PIXAL and now, Zane's original power source, and headed inside with the others. PIXAL rode on his left shoulder and the falcon, his right. Cyrus was waiting for them in the front foyer, his expression a mix of trepidation and hope. The ninja had borrowed the radio in REX to call ahead and let him know they were coming.

"I trust you have the power source, then?" he asked, wheeling over to join the group. Jay handed him the bag and he peeked inside, nodding knowingly. "Yes, good. Well then, shall we?"

Cyrus continued to talk as they made their way to the bank of elevators, heading up to Cyrus' office. "I took the liberty of refurbishing what I could of Zane's parts while you were away. There's not much point in trying to get him running again if there's still traces of the virus in his system to destroy him all over again." He paused, pushing his glasses back up. "However, there were some parts that were beyond repair. I didn't want to make any decisions on how to proceed with regards to replacing them until you were here to discuss it. While I doubt it'll make any difference where the new parts come from, I still want everyone to know what's happening in advance, so as to avoid nasty surprises later."

"Fair enough," replied Cole. "Where are you planning on getting them from, then?"

"The only place I can; the nindroids. Since they were built using his blueprints, they share a lot of the same makeup. I wasn't sure how you would all feel about that, so chose to run it by you before proceeding."

The ninja exchanged looks. None of them were particularly keen on the idea, but what choice did they have? It was a stupid bias, anyway. Apart from a couple exceptions, most of the nindroids were mindless automatons, and were only as good or bad as they were programmed to be. There was little chance that having replacement parts from them would have any effect on Zane.

Kai crossed his arms, frowning. "I think I speak for all of us when I say, I don't like it, but if it's the only way, then let's do it."

"Great." Cyrus turned to Jay. "Would you like to help?"

"Of course! Besides you, I'm the only one Zane trusts to fix him," replied Jay. He couldn't help feeling proud of that fact, puffing up a little.

"Ha!" Cole slapped him on the back. "That's because, other than Cyrus, you're the only one who knows how!"

Jay deflated, hurt, but tried to hide it. "Heh, right."

Cyrus raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

The elevator dinged, opening up into Cyrus' office. Wu was already there waiting for them and waved as Kai, Nya, Lloyd and Cole stepped out. Jay, Cyrus and the two falcons stayed behind. "Jay and I will contact you once we're ready to attempt powering Zane back up."

With that, Cyrus pushed another button on the elevator bank. The doors closed and they began to descend. Cyrus turned to face Jay. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you allow your friends to ride roughshod over you like that?"

Jay went red, peering down at his hands as he figured out how to reply. "Well . . . I mean, Cole's right, isn't he?"

"I beg to differ," broke in PIXAL. She flew over to Cyrus' shoulder so she could face Jay as she continued. "Zane has, on several occasions, confided in me regarding how happy he is to have you around while in the field. He does, in fact, trust you implicitly to repair him if the need arises. He will endure the odd prank, like the one you pulled with his voice, in exchange for your expertise, and knows you won't deliberately do him actual harm. There's no one he would rather have his back on the battlefield than you."

Now Jay was really red. He was saved from attempting to stutter out a response when the elevator arrived at their destination. He dashed off through the open doors, startling Zane's falcon, and headed down the hall. He slowed and came to a stop as he realised that this wasn't the same floor where Zane had been before. He had no idea where he was going.

Cyrus caught up to him a moment later, a bemused smile on his face. He wisely chose not to comment, instead simply leading Jay to the workshop where Zane waited. It was a little weird for Jay, seeing his friend already half taken apart and knowing that it wasn't just for regular maintenance.

Cyrus set the bag he was still carrying down at the head of the table and began unpacking it onto a second, nearby table. "I see you managed to find quite a bit of PIXAL's original body. No head?"

Jay shook his head. "No. There were a couple parts we just couldn't find. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. This just means I'll have to rework an old one." Cyrus chose not to add that he couldn't guarantee it would work, since he was limited in his supply and they were from older models and might not be compatible with PIXAL's newer parts. Her build was different than Zane's; they couldn't simply poach parts for her from decommissioned nindroids. There was no need to upset anyone by bringing it up just now.

Instead, he finished setting PIXAL's parts out, where he intended to leave them until he had a chance to work on her. Covering them with a sheet, he then carefully removed the last item from the bag.

He gently set Zane's original power source on the table, next to his head. The falcon made an unusual sound and leapt from Jay's shoulder, landing next to the glowing component. There it settled, looking equal parts content and watchful. It was clear it was planning to keep watch over it until it was time to use it once more. Cyrus smiled at the bird before turning back to Jay.

The blue ninja was already sticking his nose into Zane's open chest, examining the inner workings and what was and wasn't missing. Cyrus couldn't help but laugh. "Already hard at work, I see?"

"Just figured I'd familiarize myself with what's already been done. Doesn't seem like there's much left to do."

"This is true. As you can see, I already have everything necessary ready to go." Cyrus gestured to a table tray, laid out with bits of machinery, microchips and tools. "It's just a matter of doing it."

"Then let's get to it."

PIXAL jumped free of Cyrus' shoulder, getting out of his way while he was working. Instead, she went and sat with the falcon. The other bird turned to look at her, but remained silent. She could feel the nervous tension radiating from it. It had been listening to the explanation of the situation during the trip back to New Ninjago City, and it seemed clear that even the falcon wasn't certain this would be enough to get Zane back. PIXAL scooted closer to the falcon, brushing up against its side in a show of support. That seemed to calm it down somewhat.

Cyrus and Jay worked in silence, broken only on the rare occasion to ask for a tool or part. Despite what little remained to be done, it still took quite a while to do, the two being very careful not to mess anything up. Still, a couple hours later, they were done. Or at least, they thought they were, until they realised that Zane's current power coupling wasn't designed to hold his previous battery.

"Now what?" Cyrus pondered aloud. "We have nothing to use that would fit his original power source."

"D'you think it would be possible to make a new one, adapted for Zane's current body?" asked Jay. "How hard could it be?" He laughed weakly. He didn't want to think that they'd come so far only to fail now because of compatibility issues.

Cyrus let out a huff, thinking. "If we follow his original blueprints, we may be able to cobble something together . . . I think I still have a copy scanned." He turned to one of the computers in the room and started to tap away at the keyboard. "Ah, here we are."

He put the image up on a larger screen so both he and Jay could see it. The two studied the blueprints for several moments, frowning.

"That's some really old tech it's calling for," Jay said eventually, sounding unsure.

"Indeed," replied Cyrus. He was already thinking hard about current tech that could be altered and repurposed for what he and Jay needed. He grabbed a sheet of paper from a nearby printer, along with a pencil, and started to sketch something. Jay came over and watched over his shoulder. The two conversed quietly, Jay occasionally taking the pencil to add or change something. Eventually, Cyrus set the pencil down and the two considered what they had drawn.

"Think it'll work?" asked Jay.

"Only one way to find out."

The two spent the next half hour scouring the building for the parts they needed, trusting PIXAL and the falcon to look after Zane and his power source while they were away. Eventually, the two rejoined each other in the workshop and began piecing together Zane's new power coupler. Once that was done, they set about installing it, after removing the old one.

"I think all that's left now is to replace his power source and turn him back on," said Jay. He shifted nervously. "Should we call the others?"

"I would think they'd like to be here for that, yes." Cyrus wheeled himself over to the intercom system and paged his office. "Hello, everyone! You can come down now. Your sensei knows the way."

Jay continued to fidget nervously as he waited for the others to arrive. Even PIXAL and the falcon weren't immune. The falcon ruffled its feathers, unsettled, while PIXAL fluttered her wings, having no feathers to ruffle.

It didn't take long for the others to arrive. It was obvious they were just as antsy about the situation as everyone else. Seeing Zane as he was now, they could almost believe that he was offline for routine repairs, and as soon as he was powered back up, he would be right back to normal. Almost.

"So this is it, huh?" asked Lloyd. "The moment of truth."

Cyrus nodded. "Now we find out if all our hard work will pay off." He carefully lifted Zane's power source from the table, the falcon watching him closely. He then handed it to Jay. "Would you care to do the honours?"

You could have heard a pin drop as Jay accepted it and deftly slotted it into place.

Then things got weird.

As soon as it was placed, Zane began to glow with a pale blue light. Everyone took a step back; no one knew what was going on, but they didn't want to get caught up in it, just in case.

The light began to gather and condense into several points which then travelled across Zane's body to join with his heart. It turned out to be a good thing that Jay and Cyrus had followed the blueprints precisely, leaving enough room for the full sized power source rather than just the half they had. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the lights joined together, fusing and solidifying, rebuilding the missing half thought to have been destroyed when Zane blew himself up. After a few short moments that seemed to last forever, Zane's original power source was once again whole.

"How the . . ." Cole was the first to break the silence. "What just happened?"

Jay and Cyrus exchanged looks, Cyrus shrugging helplessly.

"Not a clue," responded Jay. "It's like it was never separated or blown up in the first place."

"Perhaps this is why his memories, while he still retained them after being rebuilt, were so fragmented!" exclaimed PIXAL. "Though I cannot claim to have the foggiest notion of what has just occurred."

"I said it before and I'll say it again: Just what did Dr. Julien use to power Zane?"

"Perhaps that should remain a mystery for now," spoke up Wu. He regarded the others coolly as they turned to face him. "Wouldn't it be more prudent to discover if this endeavour has been worthwhile?"

"Yeah, of course. Right you are, Sensei." Jay turned back to Zane's prone form. "Here goes nothing." With that, he powered Zane up.

Nothing happened.

Jay exchanged looks with Cyrus once more. "Did we screw something up? Do you think he's rejecting the new parts?"

"I wouldn't think so," Cyrus said slowly.

"Guys, look!" interrupted Lloyd.

Zane's eyes slid open. They flickered a little as he slowly rebooted, and continued to do so even after several moments had passed. He remained still, staring at the ceiling, his expression blank.

PIXAL stood, leaving her place next to the falcon and walked over to Zane's head. She tapped at him with her beak. "Zane?"

No reply. He didn't move at all.

"I don't understand . . ." said Jay. "This should have worked. Why isn't it working?"

"Maybe it's not enough, after all? Maybe it's incompatible with his current body?" Kai said half-heartedly. "Stranger things have happened."

"That shouldn't be possible," replied Cyrus. "It's clear that it's powering him now. Why he won't respond is most likely a different issue."

PIXAL tried pecking at Zane again. "Zane, please. Activate. Your friends are waiting for you . . . I'm waiting for you . . ."

He remained silent and still, eyes glowing weakly. PIXAL waited for several minutes before letting out a defeated sigh. She moved over to his side and crawled into the crook of his arm, nestling down against him.

The falcon made a questioning noise, aware that something wasn't right. Lloyd walked over to pat the bird on the head. "Maybe it's just taking time for everything to register?" he said as the falcon flew up to his shoulder, letting out another worried sound as it looked down at Zane.

Jay, meanwhile, was studying Zane's blueprint as well as the plan he and Cyrus had drawn up for the new power coupler, frowning. Cyrus came over to check it over with him, and the two pored over the plans, looking for possible errors, but there were none to be found there.

Suddenly, Jay stopped, fixated on something. "Oh, no way. It couldn't be that simple . . ."

He dashed to Zane and peered inside. A moment later, he let out a whoop, startling the others. Reaching in, he fiddled with something for a moment.

Almost immediately, Zane's eyes brightened and he was blinking. Jay pulled back as the nindroid slowly sat up. PIXAL jumped clear of his arm with a startled squawk.

"I can't believe I mixed up the wiring!" exclaimed Jay. "I was thinking in terms of his old form, so I wired it that way. It should be fixed now, so if we're lucky . . ." He turned to the confused looking robot. "Zane?"

Zane blinked again and looked toward the blue ninja. "Jay? Where am I? W-what's going on?"

"Uh oh . . ." said Kai.

"We need to test your memory, Zane. What is the last thing you remember?" asked PIXAL.

"PIXAL?" Zane looked around, trying to find her. At least it was clear he remembered her.

"I'm down here."

He looked down, startled to find the metal falcon looking up at him, its green eyes bright. "PIXAL, is that you?"

She nodded. "Yes, it's me. I will explain later, but could you please answer the question?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." He paused for a moment, and then frowned. "I . . . I recall men, dressed in snake skulls, and they wanted my power source. They took me apart to get it . . ." Zane shook his head. "No, that is not right. That did not happen to me . . ."

Zane looked at PIXAL silently for a moment before suddenly scooping her into his arms for a hug. She let out a quiet, happy sound and nuzzled him. It had been far too long since they had been able to touch. Even if she was currently in the form of a bird and couldn't really return it, the hug was nice.

Zane's falcon let out a jealous sounding croak and flew from Lloyd's shoulder to Zane's. Zane laughed, bringing up a hand to pet the bird as PIXAL moved up onto his free shoulder.

"PIXAL, why do I have your memories?"

"Your original power source also contained your memories. It seems it has stored mine, as well."

"I shouldn't have these. It's an invasion of your privacy."

"There is not much we can do about it, but it is okay. I do not mind." In fact, she kind of liked the idea of him having such a personal understanding of her, but she didn't say that aloud. "Besides, it was necessary to get you back."

"Back? Where did I go?"

"Hey, don't worry about it, tin man." Cole walked over to give Zane a friendly thump on the back. "We'll fill you in." Then he leaned in and drew him into a tight hug. "Man, I'm glad this worked. I missed you, you know."

"Uh . . ." Zane started, completely nonplussed. Why was Cole green and see through? For a moment, the nindroid couldn't remember why his friend was a ghost, his memory currently doing odd things. Everything was clear, up to a point, but then it became a jumbled mess.

He let out a quiet huff, both annoyed and confused by his malfunctioning memory. He clearly recalled getting rebuilt after sacrificing himself to defeat the Golden Master, and everything that came before. He could remember sharing his heart with PIXAL, and now had access to her memories up until the piece was taken from her.

Despite this, things were gradually becoming clearer the longer he was active, as if his memory banks were slowly defragmenting. Even now, he began to recall the events in Yang's Temple leading to Cole's ghost problem. So far, though, he could not remember what had happened that had his friends acting so odd.

After a moment, Cole finally released him only for Nya to latch on. One by one, the others followed suit. Zane noticed that Kai seemed to be hanging back. Once he finally reached him, his hug was tight and awkward.

"Zane," Kai leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I just . . . I just wanted to say, this was partially my fault and . . . I'm sorry."

Zane did his best to hide his astonishment. He knew how hard it was for Kai to truly apologize for anything. It was extremely rare to hear 'I'm sorry' cross his lips in any sincere manner, so whatever had happened must have been serious. He had already suspected as much, but this was still a completely unexpected turn of events.

"I can't say I quite recall what it is you are apologizing for," Zane whispered back, "but it is accepted."

Kai didn't respond, but hugged him harder. Zane patted him on the back, not knowing what else to do until Kai finally released him.

Zane looked around, taking in the smiling, happy faces surrounding him. It was frustrating, not being able to understand why they were all acting this way, why no one seemed to want to explain, but he suspected his memory would eventually catch up.

Unexpectedly, something clicked into place. "Oh . . ."

"Are you all right, Zane?" asked Cyrus, concerned.

"I believe so, yes, but . . . I just remembered something. I had a dream, while we were playing that video game? I think I understand what it meant, now." He frowned. "Did I die again?"

"You were infected with a nasty virus, specifically designed for you," Cyrus explained. "We did what we could, but in the end, it destroyed your systems and memory. Restoring and reprogramming your systems was the easy part, but your memories? Not so much."

"Yeah, we had to deal with Ronin again to get your old power source back, so you'd better be grateful." Cole sounded serious, but his expression suggested he was joking. He shot Zane a crooked smile.

For a moment, Zane didn't know what his emotions were doing. He had never really been one for expressive responses, but this time he couldn't help it. He was absolutely grateful to his friends for everything they must have gone through to restore him. At the same time, it bothered him to know how much trouble they'd been put through because of him. His breath caught as he wiped tears from his eyes, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, don't do that." Cole threw an arm around the nindroid's shoulder. "You'd have done the same for any of us, right?"

"Well, I would certainly have tried . . ." Zane replied with a shaky smile.

"Hey, everyone!" Kai waved for attention before gesturing at his phone. He had texted Skylor to let her know how things were going. "Skylor says we should head over there to celebrate. Food'll be on the house." He glanced to Zane. "It's your party, what do you say?"

"I . . ." Zane trailed off again, going silent for a moment. "Thank you, but . . . no. I think . . . no, I do need some time, to gather my bearings. But please, feel free to celebrate without me. Perhaps I will catch up to you later."

The others exchanged looks. Lloyd turned back to Zane. "Are you sure? It'd be kinda weird celebrating without the guest of honour."

"I am sure. Please enjoy yourselves."

"Well . . . if you say so. I'm always up for free food," said Cole.

Thus far, Zane had been sitting on the diagnostics table. Now he swung his legs over and jumped down. The falcon wasn't surprised by this at all, but PIXAL was startled. She flapped her wings to maintain balance.

The more he thought about it, the more Zane realised how quiet it was in his head, now that PIXAL was no longer residing in it. Still, even if she was in the body of the metal falcon, it was preferable to the previous situation. As far as Zane was concerned, it seemed they'd come through the situation better than before. He had honestly never expected his memories to ever fully return. Now it looked like he would get them all back, plus a few extra.

He couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed; having access to PIXAL's memories, he was aware of just how fond of him she was. To make matters worse, he also realised she had had access to his, and must know exactly how he felt about her.

He glanced at the metal falcon perched on his shoulder. He could half remember when Jay had unveiled it. He should have known something was up. Jay never would have made such drastic changes to his falcon without running it by him first, but for some reason, it never occurred to him that anything was wrong. He still didn't know the whole story there, but he was sure Jay would fill him in eventually.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Zane allowed himself to be drawn into another round of hugs as the others said goodbye before heading to Skylor's. Sensei Wu was the last to approach this time, and placed a hand on Zane's arm.

"It is good to have you back," was all he said.

Zane smiled. "It is good to be back."

Wu nodded before turning to join the others. "It is about time I tried the cuisine at this restaurant you all seem to enjoy so much."

Lloyd hung back as everyone else shuffled off down the hall. He shot one last questioning look to Zane. Zane shook his head, and Lloyd nodded before turning to follow the others. Soon, only Zane, Cyrus and the two falcons remained.

"Are you sure you are all right, Zane?" Cyrus asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Zane replied. "I don't believe there's anything wrong with me, but I do feel a little out of sorts."

"Understandable. You have been technically dead for several days, now. I imagine coming back from something like that would be a little jarring for anyone. Still, if anything seems wrong, please let Jay or me know about it as soon as possible. We did have to make some changes to your build."

"I will be sure to let you know if anything is amiss." Zane paused for a moment. "Honestly, I would just like to be alone for a while. I appreciate everything everyone has done for me, truly, but as I said earlier, I require time to sort myself out."

"Fair enough. If you wish to stay here, I will make sure you are undisturbed. Otherwise, the Bounty is parked on the roof, fully repaired."

"No offence, but I think I would like to go home."

"None taken. I trust you recall the way?"

Zane nodded and began to head for the exit, the falcons still riding on his shoulders. He paused when Cyrus spoke again.

"Oh, and Zane? Welcome back."

Zane smiled and inclined his head before continuing on his way home.


	7. Epilogue

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own it.

Well, here's the epilogue for all two of you still reading this. Thanks for sticking with me. I have now fixed pretty much everything that's been bothering me since season four. :) Sorry this took so long, the last couple weeks have been kinda a mess.

Epilogue

The next several days were a little trying for everyone. Though Zane was alive and that in itself was a good thing, it still took time before he was comfortable interacting with everyone again. His memory was slow to sort itself out, but once it had, he found himself feeling much better. Better, even, than he had since his first rebuild.

The only thing bothering him now was the fact that PIXAL seemed to be spending more time with Jay than with him, lately. He wasn't jealous; he couldn't help but be aware of just how she felt about him, but it was odd. Especially since neither of them would talk to him about it.

He wandered the ship, looking for PIXAL, carrying with him an unaddressed envelope. It wasn't really the same anymore, now that she was no longer in his head, but after everything that had happened, he was trying to get things back to normal. Or at least as close to normal as he could.

He walked out onto the deck of the Bounty in time to catch Jay talking quietly with PIXAL right before she flew away. He raised an eyebrow, tucking the envelope away in his gi before Jay could see it.

"Jay? Where is PIXAL going?" he asked, walking over to join the blue ninja.

Jay jumped. He wasn't expecting anyone else to be there. Still, he turned to Zane with a smile. "Oh, she said she was just going to visit Cyrus for a bit. Did she not tell you?"

Zane shook his head. "No. . ."

"Oh, man. Are you two having some kind of trouble?" There was something a little off about Jay's voice, but Zane couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Not that I'm aware of, but she seems to be avoiding me for some reason. Is there something different about me now that may be driving her away, perhaps?"

"Different in a good way, maybe." Jay shrugged, frowning. He placed a hand on the nindroid's shoulder. "Why don't you get her a present? Let her know nothing has changed about how you feel about her?"

Zane didn't mention the letter, even though he was intending it as a sort of gift. Instead, he mulled over Jay's suggestion for a moment. "That may not be a bad idea, but what should I get her?"

"Well, what does she like?"

Zane was silent again as he considered the question. As far as material belongings went, PIXAL didn't really need much. She hadn't had much real world experience yet to fully discover what she did and didn't like. Chocolate and flowers didn't really seem suitable in this situation. After a moment, something occurred to him.

"I have an idea, but I think I may need your help."

Jay couldn't keep the grin off his face. "Sure! What do you need?"

X X X

It took some time for the two to gather what they needed. Jay insisted on going to Borg Industries to meet up with PIXAL there once they were ready, though Zane couldn't understand why. Surely she would have gone back to the Bounty by now? Jay insisted, though, so he decided to follow him. He seemed to know something Zane did not.

Carrying several items between them, the two entered the tower. Jay told Zane to wait by the elevators while he checked in with the front desk. Zane wasn't sure why Jay's attitude was making him anxious. Something was definitely strange about all this.

He didn't have much time to ponder as Jay returned, grinning. "We can head up anytime. Cyrus is waiting for us."

"Cyrus is?" Zane questioned, but Jay either didn't hear him or he ignored him completely. Zane wasn't sure which. Silent, he followed Jay onto the elevator.

Soon, they reached Cyrus' office, the elevator doors dinging open. Cyrus himself was waiting for them, smiling.

"Hello, boys! Come in! Come in!" He wheeled over to the two, glancing at the thing Zane was delicately carrying in his hands. "Is that your gift for PIXAL? You may wish to hide it so she won't see it before you are ready."

Zane frowned. Something was without doubt going on here, and he had no idea what it was. "If I may ask, where is PIXAL? I was told she was here, visiting."

"In a manner of speaking," replied Cyrus. "Seriously, though, hide that."

"All right . . ." Zane transferred the little cup behind his back, careful not to tip it so it spilled. "I still don't understand what's going on."

Jay, meanwhile, placed the bags he had been carrying behind a counter. He was having a difficult time keeping a straight face.

"It's all right. We'll explain everything," said Cyrus. "PIXAL! You can come out now!"

Zane couldn't help it. His mouth dropped open in surprise. He had only just gotten used to PIXAL being in the body of the metal falcon, but now . . .

The patterns on her face were a little different, since it had been necessary for Cyrus to replace her head with one from a previous PIXAL unit, but otherwise, she was exactly the same. Her hair was the same, as were her eyes, but most importantly, her smile.

"Surprise," PIXAL said, smiling shyly.

"PIXAL, you . . . I . . ." Zane found himself at a loss for words. "How?"

"Jay and I recovered some of my original body while we were searching for your power source. It was enough for father to be able to restore me."

No one noticed Cyrus as he perked up at PIXAL's words. It was the first time he had heard her refer to him as father and sound comfortable with it. He was practically glowing with happiness.

Jay could see what was coming next, and darted forward to grab the little cup from Zane's hands before the nindroid could drop it. He quickly hid it away before turning to watch with a smile as Zane embraced PIXAL properly for the first time in over a year.

There they stayed for several moments. While the two had been together for most of that time, they hadn't been able to touch. Jay couldn't imagine what that must have been like.

Zane and PIXAL eventually drew apart, but continued to touch foreheads, taking full advantage of being able to make contact with each other once more. Jay got the distinct feeling they were going to be inseparable for a while to come.

"Zane. Hey, Zane," Jay called after a while, once it became clear that the robots had tuned out everyone but each other.

"Huh?" Both Zane and PIXAL looked up and over to Jay. "What?"

Jay nodded with his head towards where he'd stashed PIXAL's surprise. Zane's expression of confusion quickly became one of understanding and he turned back to PIXAL. "Please wait here a moment."

PIXAL watched in curiosity as Zane joined Jay. The blue ninja passed something to Zane, which he hid once more behind his back before turning around.

"I . . . uh . . . I got you a present . . ." With that, Zane held out the little cup.

PIXAL took it carefully, drawing it closer to get a better look. Her eyes went wide with delight. "Oh, he's so cute!"

Inside the cup was a bright red Betta fish. It didn't have much room to swim and show off its fins, but PIXAL was already entranced. She watched it sway lazily as the water swished from the movement of the cup. Looking it in the eye, she could almost swear it was looking back. He had an intelligent face, for a fish.

PIXAL drew her attention away from the fish after a moment and smiled at Zane. "Is this because I enjoyed the aquarium so much?"

Zane smiled sheepishly. "Yes. I did not know what to get you otherwise."

"He is wonderful. Thank you." PIXAL carefully set the Betta's cup down before hugging Zane again.

"Now," spoke up Jay, "Zane wasn't really thinking about how the Bounty would be a terrible place to keep a fish tank. Luckily, Cyrus and I had a quick chat when we got here, and we think we have a solution."

Cyrus wheeled over to the counter he'd cleared off earlier after talking to Jay, as the ninja in question retrieved the tank and other fish supplies from where he'd had them hidden. Together, watched by the slightly confused robots, the two prepared the fish tank for its eventual inhabitant. Once that was complete, Cyrus set up some cameras, testing them by broadcasting to one of the larger monitors in the room.

"You can keep your fish here, where he will be less likely to spill in the event of something untoward happening to the Bounty yet again. I obviously haven't had a chance to set up a feed to the ship yet, but once I have, you can use it to look in on him whenever you wish. I will make sure he is well looked after while you are away. You are, of course, welcome to visit at any time," said Cyrus. He paused for a moment. "I hope this is acceptable?"

"Yes, that sounds reasonable," replied PIXAL. She picked up the little cup once more. "He reminds me of Kai."

"Oh man, I could see Kai hating having an angry little fish named after him!" exclaimed Jay. He fixed PIXAL with a massive grin. "Do it!"

"Why would you think that would upset me, Jay?"

Everyone turned to find Kai, accompanied by Skylor, standing in the entrance to Cyrus' office. The two were smiling and carrying take out bags.

"Ah, good timing," said Cyrus. "We were just wrapping up here."

Zane and PIXAL were left, staring in confusion once again, as Jay ran over to help Kai and Skylor with the bags.

"You actually managed not to ruin the surprise?" asked Kai as he, Jay and Skylor began to unpack, setting the food out along a desk. Now that Zane thought about it, it had seemed curiously empty before. Now he knew why.

"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad at keeping secrets!" protested Jay. "But yeah, they never suspected a thing! Where are the others, anyway?"

"They'll be up in a moment with the rest of the stuff," replied Skylor.

"What's going on?" Zane asked. He and PIXAL were still completely mystified by current events.

"Just a party," replied Jay as he wrapped his arms about the two robots. "We need to celebrate your triumphant returns, after all!"

Zane blinked. "I thought you already did that?"

"Actually, this was all your sensei's idea," said Skylor. "He suggested last time that we hold off until you were feeling better. Then Jay let slip that he and Cyrus were planning to rebuild PIXAL, and well, it just made sense to wait until you were both back to normal."

Just as she finished, the elevators dinged, and the rest of the ninja spilled out into the office, each carrying various items to set up for a party.

"You didn't have to do this," said Zane.

"No, but we wanted to," replied Kai. "So come have some fun! And try to get something from the food table before Cole eats it all." He glared at Cole, who had set himself up in front of the food spread and was now busily stuffing noodles into his face. The Earth ninja looked up.

"What?"

Kai just shook his head before turning back to Zane and PIXAL. "Well, if you don't want to party, at least let me help you get Kai Junior into his tank?"

"That is not his name," replied PIXAL.

"Well, whatever you decide to call him, I think he'd like to come out of that little, cramped cup soon."

"This is true."

The three continued to set up the fish tank as the others got the party into full swing. Everyone was having such a good time, it didn't really matter who was doing what, as long as they were having fun doing it. Cole continued to ravage the refreshments as Cyrus got music set up and running. Jay convinced Nya to dance with him, and eventually, Skylor managed to drag Kai out to dance, as well. Wu stood off to the side, watching and bobbing along with the beat.

Lloyd wandered over to help Zane and PIXAL with her new pet, since neither of them really knew what they were doing without help, and also because he wanted to see the fish. An internet search and some time later, the three had the fish acclimatized and swimming happily about in his new home.

Amidst the celebration and general hubbub, Zane totally forgot about the letter, still tucked away in his gi.


End file.
